


A Man Like No Other

by Marcus_S_Lazarus



Series: Avengers of Panem [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Hunger Games (Movies)
Genre: Bruce Banner is President Snow, F/M, Time Travel, dark future
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:35:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 21
Words: 59,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23599954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marcus_S_Lazarus/pseuds/Marcus_S_Lazarus
Summary: As the Rebellion begins, Katniss is contacted by a mysterious old man who tells her of an age when heroes walked Earth, and requests her aid in reassembling the heroes of the past to face a nightmare that only he acknowledges the existence of...
Relationships: Bruce Banner/Natasha Romanov (past), Katniss Everdeen/Peeta Mellark (implied)
Series: Avengers of Panem [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1698709
Comments: 12
Kudos: 14





	1. Secrets of the Past

**Author's Note:**

> This story starts shortly after _Catching Fire_ ended, and will expand into a new course of events from then on. For future reference, in this reality President Snow has no children for reasons that will be obvious later, but otherwise both series are the same as they were in canon; you'll learn more about how things come together as the plot unfolds
> 
> Narrative wise, I will primarily stick to the original _Hunger Games_ pattern and focus on Katniss's POV, but some later chapters will be told in the third person when focusing on the Avengers' roles in particular; hope you like it

I had been lying in my room for a week before he came to me with the story that would change my life.

It had been a difficult time for me since I heard the news about the destruction of District Twelve, on top of Peeta being captured by the Capitol, and then all these people wanting me to be something for them…

I just couldn't _cope_ with this; so much had happened because of my failures to go along with what Snow wanted.

Gale may have managed to evacuate a fair portion of the District, but the fact remained that they'd only suffered so much damage because I lived there; even if Prim and my mother were safe, so many other people were dead, and as for Peeta…

Everyone wanted me to be their Mockingjay, and I didn't know how to do it; I was never comfortable speaking to people one-to-one, and now I was expected to appeal to a whole _nation_ …

God, this was a nightmare; everyone had expectations of me, and I barely even knew who to trust…

"Hello, Miss Everdeen," a voice said.

Looking up, I was surprised to see an unfamiliar old man standing in the door of my Compartment 307, looking at me with a solemn smile. His face was surprisingly smooth despite the weariness in his eyes making his age obvious, along with his pure white hair, but he gave the impression of being in at least the same shape as Mags, with the advantage that his gaze and speech were clear as opposed to her inability to communicate. I re-evaluated my thoughts on his physical health when I saw that his right arm and left leg were artificial, the ankle a deep red under his simple blue trousers and shirt while the right hand was a gold-and-red mix; he was in good shape, but he'd clearly suffered to get to this point.

"Not what you were expecting, mmm?" the man said, smiling at me as he raised his metallic right hand.

"Oh… I'm sor-" I began, uncomfortable at being caught out in my observation of his weakness.

"Don't worry; I'm used to it," the man said, still smiling reassuringly at me. "I'm responsible for co-ordinating most of District Thirteen's security arrangements, but I also have a more personal role as a historian, and I come to talk to you in that capacity; may I sit down?"

"Uh… of course," I said, indicating the seat beside my bed, puzzled at the man's overly formal nature, as though he was taking care when selecting each word, as well as the reason for his presence; after hearing how District Thirteen had survived through a secret 'deal' with the Capitol, what could be left for this man to tell me about its history?

"Well," the old man said, looking solemnly at me as he sat down, "as you're aware, before Panem, there was a time when the world was so much larger and more incredible than anything you can imagine… not at peace, but with everyone enjoying greater freedoms than what this world has to offer now, capable of going further and faster than anything available to you now… but what you probably aren't aware of is that, while it had problems as with any civilisation, these problems were significantly greater than anything we might experience today."

"I knew that-" I began; history might not have been my favourite subject at school, but I knew about the nuclear wars that had decimated the world…

"Did you?" the old man asked, turning around to look intently at me. "Did you know that, almost a century before the war that shattered the world, a madman discovered a source of power that allowed him to create and unleash weapons decades ahead of their time on the rest of the world? Did you know that a man dedicated to creating weapons abandoned his work after he created the most dangerous weapon ever built and saw the consequences of its use? Did you know that a man who sought only to help others and hated violence became the most physically powerful being on our planet through a freak accident that would have killed virtually anyone else? Did you know that a race of beings from another world once came to Earth and were so powerful we once worshipped them as gods?"

As the old man spoke, I wondered if my initial assessment of his mental state had been incorrect- everything he said just sounded more and more impossible than the last statement- but I somehow couldn't believe that he was as crazy as his story sounded.

Everything he spoke of sounded impossible- only a few details of what we'd been capable of before Panem remained; most likely the Capitol didn't want to encourage dissent by reminding us what we didn't have any more-, but the sincere clarity of his statements made it impossible to doubt the old man before me.

"No," I said at last. "I didn't."

"I didn't think you would have," the old man said with a slight smile. "Even when they were active, so few people knew everything about them…"

"Them?" I repeated.

"Come with me," the man said as he stood up, looking at me with an encouraging smile. "If you're going to appreciate this, you have to see it."

Grateful that I had dressed earlier- I'd just been lying on my bed because I didn't really know what else to do with myself any more- I stood up and walked after the man, ignoring the slight stares I was receiving from some of the other District Thirteen residents; for once, I had a feeling that it was the man with me who was attracting the stares, rather than me myself.

Whether through experience or lack of interest, the other man didn't seem to respond to the stares he was receiving. Instead, he simply smiled at a few of the people around him as he kept on walking, eventually reaching a particularly sturdy-looking door with a keypad and speaker beside it.

"Open Sesame," the man said, leaning over to speak into the speaker and tap in a number on the keypad. As the door opened, the man smiled and walked into the room, looking back at me to indicate that I could follow.

As we walked into the room, I could only stare at its contents in awe. Arrayed against one wall were seven man-sized objects; the first one seemed to be an assorted mix of grey metal, as though someone had put it together at relatively short notice out of whatever they could find, but the second one looked far more complete, and subsequent models demonstrated an impressive colour scheme combining red and gold in a very eye-catching manner. Incongruously, the objects on the next wall were a pair of strange gloves and a bow and arrow; the bow seemed more elaborate than any I had seen before, but otherwise it didn't seem to compare to the armours beside it. The same wall display included a large round shield, with a red and white circular pattern progressing towards a central blue circle with a large white star, while a small pillar between the two walls was topped by a glass case that held a short-handled metal hammer with a leather strap on the end.

"What are these?" I asked, looking at the weapons in amazement.

Even if the gloves in particular seemed like nothing special, something about the way these objects were displayed gave the impression that they were not only important beyond their obvious function as weapons, but that they… belonged together…

"Relics of that long-ago world of danger," the old man said, grinning as he looked around the room. "As the world became more dangerous, one man had an idea…"

He paused for a moment, reaching up to wistfully stroke the shield with his flesh hand, before he continued speaking, his tone becoming more passionate as he reflected on these memories. "That idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, each one possessing skills, abilities, and courage far above the norm, so that when the world needed them to face the greater threats being created now, these men and women could fight the battles that no other could."

"Oh," I said, lost for what else to say. "Who… who were they?"

"Earth's mightiest heroes," the old man said, a wistful smile on his face as he looked at the weapons around him. "A billionaire industrialist who controlled the greatest weapon of all to stop others using them, a scientist with the raw power of a monster and the heart of a hero, two master assassins who never lost sight of what mattered, the world's first and only super-soldier, and a literal god… five men and one woman, deprived of a peer anywhere else on Earth, found something in each other that led them to prevail against the greatest threat Earth had ever seen…"

For a moment, I couldn't help but smile at the story- even without specific details, there was something about the way this man told it that really made me _feel_ what he was talking about- but then I took in his solemn expression and realised that, however this story ended, it wasn't a happy one.

"What happened to them?" I asked.

"They fell when parting ways after their first mission," the man said with a sigh, his smile vanishing as he moved on to a more painful topic. "The billionaire was outmanoeuvred by an insane weapons developer with more ambition than sense, the assassins exhausted their luck on some dangerous assignments, the god lost his will after his lover died, and the scientist and the soldier… let's just say they weren't the same after the others fell."

"Oh," I said, suddenly feeling strangely depressed at the news of what had happened to a group of people I would have never met even if they'd survived, before I looked uncertainly at the room around me; I thought I could guess what these things were, but I'd already learned some harsh lessons about thinking that I was sure of anything. "How did you… well… get all this?"

"Luck, research, and political blackmail," the old man said with a smile. "President Coin knew that I had no interest in taking on a position of leadership- I'm fully aware of my capabilities as a leader and coordinator of men in the field of battle, but I wouldn't do a good job if I had to deal with politics- but my reputation initially made her predecessors uncertain where I would stand. In the end, we signed an agreement; I would provide District Thirteen with my tactical expertise while publically proclaiming my firm loyalty to the position of President, and in return, I would be allowed to maintain this collection."

"It's that important to you?" I asked, looking at the objects in surprise; I might have trouble understanding the political aspects of the situation in Panem, but I knew enough to appreciate the scale of what he was willing to potentially give up just for what he held now. "What were these objects?"

"The weapons of the Avengers," the old man said, his hand moving from one object to the next as he spoke. "The armour of Iron Man, the most powerful weapon ever devised… the shock gauntlets of Black Widow, one of the greatest secret agents of her time… the bow and arrows of Hawkeye, the greatest archer with the sharpest aim I've ever encountered… the shield of Captain America, the world's first super-soldier, the shield capable of absorbing any impact thrown against it with no harm to the wielder… and the hammer of Thor, the god of thunder, which gives he who holds it the power of the heavens, but only capable of being wielded by one who is worthy."

"Hold on… that's only five people," I said, my inquiring gaze shifting to the man as I took a moment to recall his story. "What happened to the sixth… Avenger?"

"He never used weapons," the old man said with a smile. "He was powerful enough to do significant damage on his own."

He sighed as the smile faded. "And then everything changed, of course…"

"What changed?" I asked.

"That's part of the reason I'm talking to you about this," the old man said, smiling at me once more. "President Coin has a plan, and the revolution is a commendable concept, but there are factors that she doesn't know about because she just wouldn't believe them; in a straight military conflict, the Districts and the Capitol could keep each other on a stalemate for a while, but if they bring in certain secrets…"

He shook his head grimly. "Well, it wouldn't be pretty; let's leave it at that."

"And… you think that telling me about the Avengers will… make me more agreeable to be the Mockingjay or something?" I asked, my initial suspicions suddenly returning. "I can't do that; every time I try to do something, it just goes wrong and people die-"

"Because all you've been doing is trying to take action on impulse; you haven't been making plans," the old man said, looking solemnly at me. "The hard thing about being a symbol is realising that you can't just _inspire_ ; you need to do something to show that you're worthy of that respect, and be willing to take action yourself."

"What do you know-?" I began.

"I know how you feel about what's happened to you," the man said, looking solemnly at me. "I was a symbol for another conflict, long ago, and even when I was doing everything right, my best friend died because I was too slow to save him; it was hard to cope at first, but I was reminded that he made his choice, and we have to make our choice whether or not we prove ourselves worthy of their faith. People have died because of what you inspired, but you can't hold yourself responsible for that; the only thing responsible are the conditions that forced them to decide that it was better to die on their feet than live on their knees. The only thing _you_ have to decide is whether you want to wallow in your grief and prove them wrong for believing in what you inspired, or stand up for what they died believing in and prove that their sacrifice was worth something."

The old man simply stood and watched me in silence after that statement, leaving me to think on what I had just been told.

I'd never thought about it that way; I'd been so busy thinking about my own grief at what had happened because of me, that I'd never considered things from the other person's point of view.

They'd made their decision to take a stand, and, despite what Snow had said about me being the reason, they would have probably done the same thing even without me; all I did was give them a reason to do it now, rather than later. Anyone who had died on my Tour had made a choice to act because of me, but the reason they'd acted was there already; shouldn't I recognise what had prompted them to make that decision?

"Besides," the man added, still smiling at me, "you're wrong about one thing."

"What's that?" I asked.

"I don't want you to be just my Mockingjay, Katniss Everdeen," the man said. "It's a good name, to be sure, but the Mockingjay was a fluke of nature that came to existence when nobody believed it could survive; it creates the idea that you were lucky and nothing else.

"So… what _do_ you want me to be?" I asked.

"Simple," the man replied. "I want you to be an Avenger."

I didn't know what it was about that statement, but even though I'd never even heard of the Avengers before a few moments ago, I was suddenly struck by the power of that idea.

Even if he wasn't being honest about what the Avengers had been, the idea that he thought I could be part of a team that had included a _god_ among its members…

"But I'm not-" I began, reality catching up to me.

"Not qualified?" the man said, smiling thoughtfully at me. "You're not perfect, I know, but you've got some skill above the general population, you've proven that you're willing to put the lives of others above your own when the situation calls for you to make a choice, and, when faced with impossible odds, you stood up and did what you could to protect another; trust me, you're an Avenger."

The solemn nature of that statement was almost more powerful than his original proclamation that I could be an Avenger; I'd never even thought about some of those things, or about what I could do or stand for beyond my suggestion that Peeta and I would eat the berries to deprive the Capitol of their Victors, and now I was facing a man who saw me as some… saviour?

It was a lot to think about, but as I looked at the man before me, I was struck by a feeling that none of the past requests made for me to act as the Mockingjay had ever managed to inspire in me.

The other residents of District Thirteen had always been talking about how me being the Mockingjay would help the District; this man…

He was making me think about how what I was as the Mockingjay could help everyone else.

"But… why me?" I asked uncertainly. "I'm not the only Tribute-"

"If you're thinking of Finnick Odair, don't," the man said, shaking his head. "Finnick is a good man, but that's all he is; he has strength, skill, and charisma, and he and Johanna Mason certainly have some talents that could be useful if things come down to a fight, but if I'm looking for candidates for the Avengers, you have something that we _need_ if we're going to pull this off."

"Which is?" I asked.

"You act to help others when you don't have to," the man said simply. "Finnick does what he does to keep others safe from an immediate threat, and he knows that he'll still be alive in the end whatever else happens… but you step up when you don't _have_ to."

I briefly wondered what he meant by that statement about how Finnick 'does what he does', but I quickly decided not to ask about it; I had a feeling I wouldn't get an answer anyway.

"But… wait…" I said, looking uncertainly at him as I thought about everything he'd just told me. "I thought you said that the Avengers failed because they were attacked on their own? How can-?"

"Exactly," the old man said, nodding in approval at me. "You can't stand alone if you're an Avenger… which is why I'm going to need your help with something else."

Reaching over, he tapped a series of buttons on a small control panel on one wall, prompting the door to open up and reveal what seemed to be a large metal object, consisting of a six-sided shape with each side composed of what looked like square metal rods, connected up to all kinds of cables and equipment, and a strange blue light glowing in the centre of the portal from no obvious source that I could see.

"What is it?" I asked, looking at the circle in confusion.

"The other reason I brought you here," the man said, a warm smile on his face as he looked at the object. "I've never dared to show this to anyone before, but I'm breaking that rule here because I know you can use it properly."

"Uh… use it to do what?" I asked.

"Bring the Avengers back," the old man replied firmly, as his expression became grim. "And with the Capitol's secret weapon, I can assure you that we're going to need them…"


	2. Trip to the Past

Even when I was about to use the thing that had been introduced to me as a time portal, I couldn't believe that pre-Panem science had actually managed to create something that would allow people to go back into the past

The old man had told that it took a lot of power to operate, so we couldn't evacuate _en masse_ even if we wanted to- morality of abandoning everyone else aside, where would we go that wouldn't be risky?-, but if I understood his plan, he was betting that we wouldn't need to use it for more than a couple of return trips in its current condition.

I'd seen some potentially crazy plans ever since I volunteered to save Prim- that plan was only the first step in an increasingly crazy couple of years- but the idea that I was preparing to go back in time to recruit heroes from the time before Panem…

"Are you sure this is safe?" I asked the old man as he stood at the time portal's control console, tapping away at the various buttons and switches all over it. "I mean, you said you didn't really know how this thing works…"

"Of course it's safe," the old man said, looking up at me with a firm stare that suggested he couldn't believe I was doubting him. "Stark and Doctor Foster both went over the designs more than once, and I have followed their plans exactly; it will work."

"But… all that stuff about different histories…" I said, looking uncertainly at this man who had inspired so much in me that I didn't know was there.

"Just think of it as creating a bridge between our world and another world's past," the old man said, smiling reassuringly at me. "So long as the gauntlet remains undamaged, you'll maintain a link between yourself and the portal, and the portal will retain the set coordinates for us to send them back to their world once they're done here."

"And you're sure-?" I began.

"I'm sure," he said, nodding resolutely at me; he'd told me that there was some deeper reason behind his belief that the Avengers were needed here, but he hadn't shared it yet. "It's easier for everyone if I tell the Avengers everything when they get here; you knowing would only affect things for… reasons I can't explain now."

If it had been anyone else in District Thirteen making that statement, I would have been angry at them; after even Haymitch had kept so much from me as we prepared for the Quarter Quell, to say nothing of the other Tributes…

Despite that, somehow, even when I didn't know this man's name, I _knew_ that he hadn't omitted the information about that mysterious Capitol secret because he didn't trust me; if he was able to share it with me, he would have, and he would tell me when I got back.

"OK," I said, looking anxiously at the portal before me, now glowing a brilliant blue, "so… just go in there?"

"And activate your gauntlet when you're ready to come back," the old man said, smiling at me as I studied the red gauntlet on my right hand- taken from one of the nearby armours with an additional device strapped on top-, while my left hand was covered by a black-and-blue glove as it held the bow that had been on the wall; according to the old man, these weapons were my best chance to prove my identity to the Avengers when I got there. "Just stick to the story and focus on the facts; you'll be fine."

With nothing else to do, I simply nodded as I turned my attention to the portal in front of me, took a deep breath, and walked through the swirling blue energy before I could change my mind…

* * *

As the blue light of the portal faded, I found myself standing in an unfamiliar, well-lit corridor, with two people standing on either side of a door a short distance in front of me in a manner that suggested they were guarding it. The man was wearing a sleeveless black top with a bow and quiver slung over his shoulder, while the woman was dressed in tight black leather with short, fiery red hair with a pair of pistols strapped to her hips, both weapons drawn and aimed at me as soon as the surrounding glow had faded.  
  
"Easy!" I said, holding up my hands, looking anxiously between the two of them. "I'm not here to hurt anyone-"  
  
"You show up like _that_ and think we're going to believe you?" the woman said, looking firmly at me as she aimed her guns at me; I hadn't felt this anxious since the time the Careers had cornered me in a tree, and this time I had the disadvantage that I didn't want to hurt these people-  
  
"What the…?" the man said, lowering his bow as he looked at the one in his hand; now that I looked at his weapon, I was fairly sure that my one was the older version of the one being held by the man before me, but this wasn't the time to start considering the complexities of time travel. Before I could say anything to explain what he had obviously noticed, the door the two had been standing by opened and two older men came out, one wearing a casual T-shirt with a strange logo on it I didn't recognise and a neatly-trimmed beard while the other wore a loose shirt and had a slightly haunted expression.  
  
"Hey, what's going on out here?" the bearded man said as he looked between the two. "I thought you were meant to keep quiet as bodyguards…"  
  
His voice trailed off as he noticed me. "And who's this?"  
  
"My name is Katniss Everdeen," I said, looking resolutely at the four people standing before me, using the opening the bearded man's words gave me. "I'm an Avenger."  
  
"You mean you're applying?" the bearded man said, looking at me in surprise. "Look, kid-"  
  
Before he could finish his sentence, I raised the arm with the gauntlet on it and held it directly in front of his face, allowing myself a slight smile as his eyes widened at the sight. "What the…?"  
  
"Look familiar?" I said, hoping I sounded as confident as I was trying to appear. "You should recognise it; it's from your Mark Four suit."  
  
"And that's not the only thing she's got," the archer said, indicating the bow in his hand and the bow I was holding. "I know my weapon, and I recognise that one; allow for wear and tear due to age, and this is the same bow."  
  
"What the _hell_?" the bearded man said, looking between the dual bows and the gauntlet in confusion before he focused on me. "But… but you _couldn't_ have that gauntlet-"  
  
"Not if I got it from here, anyway," I said, flexing the fingers of the gauntlet as I smiled at him. "But it's easy to get your hands on this kind of thing when you're from the future and you know where to look."  
  
I gave them a moment to process that statement, smiling slightly at the varying degrees of shock on their face; I might be completely out of my depth here, but at least they all seemed to be equally shocked as well.  
  
"The future?" the man in the purple shirt finally said, looking at me with new curiosity. "You're… from the future?"  
  
"Around… two centuries from now, I think," I said, hoping that the old man had been right; he'd claimed that some details had been lost in the aftermath of the war, so there might be some years he was missing, but he felt that two centuries was a reasonable estimate.  
  
"Huh," the bearded man said, raising an eyebrow in surprise as he looked at me. "That's… different."  
  
"If you're from the future, why do you need us?" the archer said, looking grimly at me. "You've got Stark's armour-"  
  
"And we had to search for ages just to find that," I interjected, looking solemnly at the group of people standing around me.  
  
This was the part that I was most apprehensive about; these people had dedicated their lives to saving the world, and now I was here to tell them that what they had done, or were about to do, didn't matter…  
  
"There's no easy way to say this, so I'll just say it," I said at last. "I'm not clear on how or when it happened, but between this time and the time I came from, there was a massive nuclear war that pretty much devastated the planet. We're down to a relative fraction of what we were, we have no idea what things are like across the sea, and we're ruled by a dictatorship whose only goal is keeping the outlying districts suppressed out of fear while forcing teenagers to compete against each other in fights to the death each year for nothing more than their own sick amusement."  
  
"Fights to the death?" the woman repeated, looking at me with a new intensity in her stare. "What do you mean by that?"  
  
"Most of the specifics have been suppressed over the years, but it's part of this 'Treaty of the Treason', signed to end a war that took place over seventy-five years ago from my perspective," I explained. "After some kind of devastating war- I don't know what started it, so don't ask- the current government of Panem came together from the remaining survivors, with Panem as the Capitol and thirteen various districts being created to support the Capitol, each one with its own speciality; my District mines coal, District Five provides power, District Four supplied fish, things like that…"  
  
"And that was the war you mentioned?" the woman asked.  
  
"No, the war I mentioned took place between the Districts and the Capitol," I explained. "The Districts tried to rebel against the Capitol, but District Thirteen was presumed destroyed after it ended, and as for the rest of us…"  
  
I paused for a moment, making sure everyone was looking at me, before I continued; now that I was actually talking about the Hunger Games to someone who didn't know about them already, it was becoming increasingly clear that they had to end. "Well, as part of the treaty, to ensure that we pay penance for the rebellion, all twelve districts have to submit two tributes, between twelve and eighteen years old, to receive extensive training for two weeks before we're pitted against each other in fights to the death."  
  
"Oh my God…" the man in the purple shirt said, looking at me in horror. The woman had a certain tension about her that reminded me of the monkeys that had attacked me during the Quarter Quell, preparing to strike but uncertain what target to go for, while the bearded man just looked like he was fighting the urge to be sick.  
  
"They send _twelve-year-olds_ to kill people?" the archer said, looking incredulously at me.  
  
"The best young Tributes rely on their size to evade the better-trained ones, but that only gets you so far," I said, bowing my head at the memory. "I teamed up with a younger Tribute last year, but… she was impaled by a spear before I could do anything."  
  
"You fought in these… 'Games'?" the man in the purple shirt said, an edge of contempt to his voice at the thought.  
  
"I did," I said, nodding at him. "I was able to get through it without killing anyone I was allied with, but… well, my actions set off a rebellion, and one of our leaders sent me here to recruit your help."  
  
"Us?" the bearded man said, looking at me in surprise.  
  
"Well, he said he was sending me to get Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Natasha Romanov and Clint Barton; those are your names, right?" I said, looking between the four; now that I'd actually voiced the names, I found myself naming the four people facing me in my mind, relieved that I'd apparently processed the descriptions correctly even if I hadn't confirmed them before now.  
  
"Just us?" the man in the purple shirt that I guessed was Bruce Banner said, nodding at me in uncertain confirmation. "Uh… you do know that we aren't all the Avengers, right?"  
  
"The guy who sent me here was specific; it has to be you four," I said firmly. "He said you'd understand when you got there."  
  
"Huh," Natasha Romanov said, looking me over for a moment before she spoke. "And why did he- and who is he, anyway?- send you?"  
  
"I've… well, for my actions in the Games, I've basically become a symbol for the rebellion," I explained. "I already said that I didn't kill anyone I was allied with, but I actually went against the rules to the point that I was prepared to kill myself and my remaining ally to ensure that these Games didn't have a Victor; they were forced to let us both live, but the idea that anyone could defy the Capitol like that… well…"  
  
"Set the ball rolling, huh?" Clint Barton said, smiling at me in approval.  
  
"Pretty much," I said with a shrug. "As for who sent me… he said he'd tell me his name later; he gave me these weapons from his collection so that you'd believe me."  
  
"OK," the bearded man that I was fairly sure was Tony Stark said, looking uncertainly at me. "So… you came back in time, on the recommendation of a guy whose name you don't know, armed with weapons designed by a group that apparently doesn't exist in your world any more… for what? To get us to stop the war before it starts?"  
  
"If you can," I said, nodding briefly at him- even if it wouldn't change anything for us, based on what the old man had told me about how the portal worked, it would be nice to know that at least one world would never have to endure the Hunger Games- before I turned to ensure that I was addressing all of them. "But what I'm really here for is to ask you all to come back to the future with me."  
  
"What?" Clint said, looking at me in confusion.  
  
"District Thirteen and other rebels are preparing to mount an official rebellion against the Capitol- I'm to serve as their public face when things start getting serious- but… the man who sent me here has told me that the Capitol have a secret weapon that he doesn't think we can confront with what we have," I explained, as I looked around at the four assembled Avengers. "He showed me the portal to take me here along with an archive he has about you all, told me about your history, and sent me back here so that I could specifically ask you four to come back with me."  
  
"Just us?" Tony said, looking at me uncertainly. "Look, Kat-girl-"  
  
"Katniss," I corrected him.  
  
"Katniss," he said, nodding at me before he continued, "I don't know if your records just jumped ahead a bit or something, but I kind of need my armour to do anything… Avenger-esque… and I don't have it on me now-"  
  
"We have your original seven armours in storage and plans for some of your later models; the man who sent me here assures me that you'll have everything you need to get the old ones back up and running or to create new models," I said, smiling slightly at him before I looked more solemnly at them. "I get that you don't have any reason to believe anything I'm telling you right now, but please believe me on this; there are at least thousands of people living as nothing more than slaves to a government that sees us all as nothing more than toys to fight for their amusement when they acknowledge anyone individually, and if you can't help us, we're in serious trouble."  
  
"And… you're sure the guy who sent you here just wanted us?" Bruce asked.  
  
"He was very clear on that," I confirmed. "You four are exactly what we need."  
  
After a moment's contemplative silence as the four Avengers looked at each other, Tony sighed and shrugged.  
  
"Well, I've always said I'm all about looking forward," he said, smiling slightly as he looked at the rest of the group. "Why not actually see where we're going?"  
  
"It doesn't exactly sound pleasant-" Clint began.  
  
"Which is why you two should come along," Tony said, looking at Clint and Natasha with a smile. "Fury sent you here to keep an eye on me and Bruce while we're working on that salvaged Chitauri tech, remember? If we go to the future, be kind of hard for you to keep an eye on us if you aren't there as well."  
  
"We're in," Natasha said firmly, Clint simply nodding in agreement after looking at her to confirm his own agreement.  
  
"Well," Bruce said, looking at the other three with a slight smile, "I'm certainly not going to be the guy who said he turned down the chance to save the future; count me in too."  
  
"Thanks," I said, smiling at the group of people in relief.  
  
Whatever else was about to happen, at least this part of the plan had gone according to plan…  
  
"So… what now?" Tony asked. "You click your heels and go 'There's no place like home'?"  
  
"Actually," I said, holding up the gauntlet with a smile, "from what I was told, I just need you all to be touching me while I do this…"  
  
After a moment's glance between each other, the Avengers gathered around to place their hands on me, I pressed down on the relevant control on the gauntlet…

* * *

After the light faded, the five of us were now staggering out of the portal, looking anxiously at each other before they turned to look at the portal we'd just walked through.  
  
"That's it?" Clint said, sounding slightly disappointed. "Your time machine is a big gate?"  
  
"Actually, considering it's a two-way system without a receiver at the other end, that's actually pretty good," Tony pointed out.  
  
"Talking of which, how does that work?" Bruce asked, looking curiously at the portal.  
  
"Variation on the Bifrost designed by Tony and Doctor Foster with some insight from Thor," the old man said, still standing where he'd been when I left the room (Which fit with what he'd told me about the portal; when used for this kind of trip, I'd automatically return to my original departure time when I got back no matter how long I spent in the past). "It's complicated, but I can make it work; that's the main thing right now."  
  
"Yeah, if you…" Tony began, only for his words to trail off as he turned to look at the old man, the other Avengers' eyes widening in shock as they took in the sight of the old man standing before them, a warm smile on his face and a faint gleam of tears in his eyes as he looked at the four Avengers.  
  
"Hello, my friends," he said, joy obvious in his voice despite his solemn tone. "It's… it's _so_ good to see you…"  
  
"Oh my God…" Clint said, looking at the old man incredulously.  
  
"Capsicle?" Tony said, squinting at the man before him in confusion, as though trying to confirm what he was looking at.  
  
" _Steve_?" Bruce and Natasha said simultaneously.  
  
"What-?" I began, looking at the old man in confusion.  
  
"Allow me to introduce myself properly, Katniss," the old man said, smiling at me as though the other Avengers' shocked reactions hadn't happened. "My name is Steve Rogers, also known as Captain America; back when they first came together, I was essentially the field commander of the Avengers."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To answer questions, the time portal used here came from 'Spider-Man: Edge of Time'; I just removed the need for the portal to be a two-way system via Katniss's use of the gauntlet as a return system. Also, for the record, from the Avengers' perspective, this takes place relatively shortly after the Chitauri invasion, before _Iron Man 3_ , so Thor's still in Asgard and Tony hasn't developed the Iron Legion or his remote-controlled armour yet.


	3. The Fall of the Avengers

"Hold on; _you_ were an _Avenger_?" I said, looking at the old man incredulously. "But- but you said-!"

"That they'd been active before the war that shattered the world and created Panem from the ashes," the old man- Steve?- said, smiling at me. "And that was true, Katniss; I just didn't tell you that I was there when it happened."

"But that was-!" I began again, scrambling to understand this new impossibility.

"Over two centuries ago?" Steve finished for me with the same small smile that suggested he was amused and saddened at what we were talking about. "And that was one reason I didn't mention it; the Avengers are a good story, but if you thought I was claiming to know them personally, without any evidence to support that claim, you'd assume I was just barking mad."

"But… but _how_?" Tony said, looking at the old man in confusion (At least I knew that even the people who'd known he was an Avenger were as surprised at this turn of events as I was). "I mean, I know that super-soldier-serum stuff did… some weird stuff to your body that nobody could've totally predicted, but you couldn't be alive after _this_ long on your own!"

"I'm not," Steve said.

"You're not alive?" Clint said, looking at the old man uncertainly.

"Not this old on my own," Steve clarified smiling slightly at his teammates (He'd _known_ these people when he was _young_?) "The serum did retard my ability to age, but I also spent some further years in suspended animation between your time and now, and I've had a few artificial limbs provided by Stark here after a bad fight; I'm not exactly the _Six Million Dollar Man_ , but I've received enough upgrades over the years to ensure I stay in fairly good shape."

"You're making pop culture references _now_?" Tony said, looking incredulously at him.

"When you put me in suspended animation, you included a VR network that gave me access to virtually every TV show and movie you could think of," Steve explained, his expression becoming more solemn as he looked at the billionaire. "My body was out of it, but my mind was kept occupied until you took me out of the chamber; it was the best you could do, considering that it took you a while to get the parts together to replace what had been lost."

" _I_ took a while to get _parts_ together?" Tony repeated, clearly wondering if the old man had gone senile. "That doesn't-"

"You went through a… darker phase of your life that culminated in you losing most of your original resources," Steve said, looking solemnly at Tony. "You lost… a great deal when another weapons manufacturer unleashed a dangerous new means of enhancing soldiers, both in terms of your financial resources and you as a person; even with everything you had, the best that anyone could get from you after what happened was that you were still physically alive."

"What…" Tony began, before he shook his head. "No, on second thought, I probably don't want to know."

"Be prepared when you get back home; that's the best I can give you right now," Steve said, nodding at the other man in an understanding manner.

"What happened to Thor?" Clint asked, before I could try and press the two men for information myself.

"Huh?" Steve said, looking at the archer in surprise.

"Well, if we're as far in the future as Katniss said we were, I'm guessing that the rest of us just died of old age- whatever happened to you, the rest of us are still basically human- but that wouldn't be an issue for Thor," Clint explained, indicating the hammer. "He's said more than once that he's virtually immortal, given how long his people can live, so he couldn't have died of natural causes given his age; what happened to him if he isn't here?"

"Thor… well, it probably started after Doctor Foster passed away," Steve said, looking sadly around the room at the other four.

"Doctor Foster?" I asked.

"Doctor Jane Foster," Steve explained, looking over at me with a smile. "She was an astrophysicist- she studied the stars and various related phenomena- who helped Thor when he first came to Earth without his powers, helping him understand more about the human values that he'd never really considered when he was home."

"Oh," I said, making a note to ask about that story when I had a moment; I didn't know many stories, but something about the idea of an immortal falling for a normal human sounded strangely moving…

"It's the way of the world, I guess," Steve said with a sigh. "You can try and prepare yourself for the fact that you'll outlive the woman you love, willingly sacrificing what you were because how you feel about her outweighs everything else, tell yourself that what time you'll have with her now will make up for the fact that it will be so brief in the long run…"

"But that doesn't make it easier when it happens?" I finished, suddenly remembering my mother's reaction to my father's death.

I'd always thought her weak for falling apart after the accident that killed my father, but when Steve spoke of his old friend, who'd entered a relationship _knowing_ that he would outlive her, I found myself thinking more about what else she'd lost when he was gone…

"It doesn't," Steve said grimly, confirming my thoughts. "Thor might have managed to learn how to cope with her death eventually- he certainly had the opportunity- but when our last battle took place… he lost his faith."

"His faith?" Clint repeated; evidently he shared my confusion at what faith had to do with this discussion.

"His faith that we were worth protecting," Steve clarified, looking sadly at the hammer that I was starting to recognise was the last relic of the missing Avenger left on Earth. "With Jane's death, he began to doubt the value of protecting a race that could change so much in such a comparatively little time by his standards, and when our last adversary as a team revealed himself, Thor's doubt in the value of his old oath to protect us cost him the ability to wield Mjolnir… and our opponent pretty much beat him to a bloody pulp."

"Something did that to _Thor_?" Natasha said in surprise (I wondered how powerful this guy would have to be to inspire such a strong reaction in a woman who'd seemed so in control earlier, but decided not to think about it; he wasn't here, so it didn't matter). "Even without his hammer, he's not exactly easy to put down-"

"We were fighting a _very_ powerful adversary," Steve noted, indicating his artificial limbs. "The guy had already done this to me, along with various internal injuries I've never had the nerve to ask for specific descriptions of, and Thor's rage and anger at it… well, like I said, he lost his grip on the hammer, and then he got the beating of a lifetime because he couldn't summon it back to him. The Bifrost took him to safety before he died of his injuries- at least, he was still moving when it came for him- but he never came back; I don't know if he's dead, just can't be bothered, or what."

"And he just… left his hammer?" Tony said, indicating the weapon in question. "He was _ridiculously_ attached to that thing-"

"It was too far away from him when the Bifrost activated for him to take it with him, and like we all know, it can only be lifted by the worthy," Steve said, looking grimly at the hammer. "It took a lot of effort to get it here, and I'm reluctant to rely on it in a fight unless I have to; even if it can be used, how much of its powers depends on it being wielded by an Asgardian, whether or not we manage to find a worthy human?"

"Point," Clint said, looking solemnly at the weapon himself. "No point packing that kind of firepower if you can't use it properly."

"So," Bruce said, after a moment of awkward silence as the Avengers exchanged glances, clearly feeling uncomfortable about their uncertainty about what had happened to their missing teammate, "Katniss here gave us some details of what happened here since our time, but what else can you tell us?"

"She told you about the war that devastated the planet, right?" Steve began, looking around at his teammates.

"Pretty much the first thing she mentioned after introducing herself as an Avenger," Tony replied.

"Picture the worst-case-scenarios people came up with for nuclear war and then make it both better and worse than they thought," Steve said grimly. "From what Tony told me, it happened shortly after our last stand; he wasn't clear on if it was instigated by our enemy or just natural tensions boiling over into a climatic assault, but the end result was the same. I took over checking out old communications systems for Tony after he died, but I still haven't managed to make contact with anyone outside America since I woke up; I've managed to tap into a few of the satellites still up there after the war, but I haven't managed to reach anything anywhere, but whether they're just unable to reply or there's simply nobody there to receive it I don't know."

"How long have you been… here?" Natasha asked, curiously indicating the room we were in.

"Since shortly after the last rebellion," Steve replied. "I was placed in suspended animation shortly before the original war started, but Tony was able to keep himself alive through various life-support devices he designed, staying underground while he stole supplies from various places until he could save me; he said that he wanted to ensure there was still an Avenger in this world."

"What did I-?" Tony began.

"Trust me," Steve said, looking firmly at the inventor, "you _don't_ want to know."

After Tony had nodded at him in grim acceptance, Steve continued talking. "Anyway, Tony died shortly after I woke up, and I spent the next few years wandering around, trying to see what had become of the world, until I heard news of the rebellion against the Capitol. I missed most of the fighting- the actual war was fairly brief and I'd been staying away from populated areas-, but I eventually found District Thirteen when I was investigating rumours of their survival in an anti-radiation suit Tony had created and ran into a scouting patrol. Once we'd established that neither of us were working for the Capitol, I was able to request a meeting with their current President and work out a deal."

"Deal?" Bruce repeated in surprise. "You never struck me as the kind of guy to go in for deals…"

"This was the kind of deal I had to make," Steve said. "District Thirteen had access to some records of our activities- the explanation for that will be provided later- so they knew who I was, and Tony had kept most of our weapons in secure storage along with me. Once I had drawn up the terms of the deal with the president, I was able to arrange for this room to be set aside as a private museum of our achievements, in exchange for my services coordinating our defences and the promise that I wouldn't seek control for myself."

"But… you wouldn't do that anyway…" Bruce said.

"True, but the Presidents feel better to have it in writing," Steve explained. "Anyway, that's not relevant now; what is relevant is confirming that Katniss told you about the Hunger Games, right?"

"As punishment for that rebellion you told us about, the remaining twelve districts have to send two teenagers each into a massive fight to the death which only one of them can win, right?" Bruce said, looking at Steve for confirmation.

"Exactly," Steve said, nodding at him. "The arena varies from year to year, but some key details remain the same; they start out with a Cornucopia where the Tributes can recover various weapons and supplies, with most of the games being won when the Careers take control of the Cornucopia."

"The Careers?" Natasha asked.

"It's a nickname for Tributes from Districts One, Two and Four," I said, picking up the explanation. "In most Districts, the Tributes are just selected at random from any children in the right age group, but those three Districts have academics specifically set up to train their children in all the skills they'd need to win their Games."

"They train _kids_ to become _killers_?" Tony said, looking at me incredulously.

"It happens," Natasha said, in a grim tone that made me wonder if she had some kind of experience with something like that even back in her own time (I already knew that I wouldn't ask her about that; if we were mounting a rebellion, I wanted to believe that what came before was worth fighting to regain).

"The point," Steve said, as he looked around the other Avengers, "is that the average Games consists of the Careers gaining control of the supplies in the Cornucopia, killing most of the less experienced Tributes in the initial bloodbath as people try to recover supplies, and then the other Tributes end up getting killed as the Careers hunt them down and take them out of the picture…"

"Oh," Bruce said, looking at him grimly. "That's…"

"Sick?" I finished for him, for once able to recall the Games without horror; if the Avengers were going to help us, they had to know what they were up against. "Trust me, it's worse when you're there; I saw a girl just a couple of years older than me gut a boy a couple of years younger than me when he was doing nothing but sobbing for his life, and the only friend I made in the arena was a twelve-year-old girl who was killed by a spear while she was running to hug me…"

I had to stop at that, turning away to lean against the wall, my shoulders shaking as I tried to force the memories back now that they weren't needed…

"Easy," a voice said from behind me; I didn't need to feel the small hand settling on my shoulder to identify it as Natasha. "You're safe now, Katniss; nothing can hurt you here."

In the past, I wouldn't have believed anyone who said those words- even before District Twelve had been bombed, the Capitol had such control that I knew nobody was really _safe_ \- but now, for the first time, as I stood in a room with five heroes…

I felt like I was finally somewhere that _could_ be safe…

"So… since you said you're from District Twelve, I take it not all the Games go the Careers' way?" Tony said, looking curiously at me as I brought myself back under control.

"It varies," Steve said, answering for me as he looked between his old teammates, giving me a chance to collect myself. "Some non-Careers can pull off some effective strategies; one of our primary assets here is a former Victor who won his games by electrocuting the other Tributes, some other Victors won their Games by camouflaging themselves until everyone else was dead or too wounded to stop them, and another feigned weakness until there were a few Tributes left and then went on a killing frenzy."

"Ah," Tony said, looking over at me. "How'd you pull it off?"

"I blew up the supplies by setting off a minefield the Careers had set up to stop any of the other Tributes reaching them, and then I managed to take out the Careers when they tried to attack me directly," I explained (This wasn't the time to talk about Peeta; that would come later).

"She's good with a bow," Steve said, smiling over at me before his gaze shifted to Clint. "That's one reason I wanted you here, Clint; Katniss has only had limited training in other areas of combat, so I was hoping that you could help her adapt to other methods of fighting."

"No problem," Clint said, looking at me with a smile.

"Two archers?" Tony said, looking at Steve in surprise. "I thought you'd look for some variety…"

"Katniss might have skills we already possess, but she also has the heart we need if we're going to pull this off," Steve said, looking back at Tony before he looked at me with a slight smile. "She actually volunteered for the Games to save her twelve-year-old sister from having to compete herself, and when it came down to her and her District partner at the end of her Games, she defied the Capitol by suggesting they kill themselves instead as the only thing she could do to defy them."

"You were going to kill _yourself_?" Bruce said, looking at me in surprise.

"I just… I didn't want to kill Peeta…" I said, looking awkwardly at the ground.

"The point," Steve said, looking around at the other Avengers, "is that Katniss isn't just here because she's good with a bow; she's here because, in a world that lies down and accepts the atrocities of the Games because there wasn't anything else to do, she not only stood up to the system to save her sister, but won the Games on _her_ terms."

If anyone else had started talking about me like that, I would have protested that I hadn't done anything special, but the fact that it was Steve making this statement left me silent.

I didn't know what it was about this man, but he just had a… a _presence_ , was the best term I could think of… that made me want him to think well of me…

"So, she's here because she has the spirit; why do you need the rest of us?" Tony asked, looking at Steve with a hopeful smile. "I mean, if we're just talking a straightforward war here-"

"We're not," Steve replied, raising his metal arm and tapping some controls on the forearm, one section of the wall sliding down to reveal a screen. "As well as their military resources, the Capitol can also call on _this_."

As he spoke, an image appeared on the screen that I couldn't believe. It was a large green man, with muscles that made even Cato's well-trained physique or Peeta's own strength seem pathetic by comparison, dressed in a sleeveless blue shirt and purple trousers, with gold bands around his wrists and a thick white beard around his face. I briefly wondered why Steve was so concerned about a well-trained Capitolite- it wasn't like I hadn't seen green skin before, even if Octavia had never taken it this far- but then I saw the man walk by a door and re-evaluated my opinion; this figure was at least twice the size of any man I'd ever seen.

"Oh God…" Bruce said, staring at the screen in horror.

"What the Hell is _that_?" Tony said.

"The Capitol's secret weapon," Steve said grimly, as the footage ended. "This is the only surviving clip of him in that form that I've been able to find- he's erased virtually all other traces of his existence by the time I found District Thirteen- but he's still active in his human form."

"Human form?" I repeated.

"What you're seeing is the result of a human being infused with gamma radiation while possessing a unique genetic sequence," Bruce explained as he looked at me, indicating the screen where Steve had frozen the clip on an image of the green man. "Normally radiation on this scale would kill anyone exposed to it, but we've since learned that a few people, including me, have the ability to absorb that radiation, at the cost of it triggering a transformation into… well, that."

"Wait; you're saying… _you_ can turn into something like that?" I said, indicating the screen as I looked at Bruce in surprise; the science was beyond me, but I thought I understood enough to know what Bruce was telling me.

The idea that this small man could become something so _large_ …

"Oh, he can," Tony confirmed with a smile. "His control over it varies depending on when he transformed and why- he's harder to control if he's _really_ angry when it happens, but he'll focus on the intended bad guy if he chooses to change himself- but that's what he brings to the team; brilliant scientific mind off the field and raw rage-fuelled strength on the field."

"And that's why I brought you all here," Steve explained. "If anyone's going to coordinate a plan to take out the Maestro, it's you."

"Maestro?" Natasha said, looking thoughtfully at the screen. "He calls himself that?"

"It fits," Steve said grimly. "The Maestro is a genius in human form, and he retains his personality and intellect in his transformed state; he's maybe quicker to anger in that form, but it's been a while since I had a reason to test it."

"Huh," Tony said, studying the screen thoughtfully. "A Hulk that thinks… that could be tricky…"

"And you're sure he's still… capable of it?" Bruce asked, looking anxiously at Steve.

"He wouldn't give up that power," Steve replied grimly.

"Who is he?" Natasha asked. "What is his role in Panem?"

"It all starts before the war," Steve explained solemnly, looking grimly at the now-blank screen as though it was displaying recordings of what he was discussing. "He established his new identity shortly before the bombs fell, and then it became a non-issue as radiation had no effect on him. When it all went down and the wars began, the radiation pumped him up beyond any strength level I've ever seen; estimates suggest that the Maestro could only be killed if he was at ground zero of a nuclear blast, and even then it would be a bit of a question-mark. He was strong enough and smart enough to work out a means of draining off the worst of the nuclear radiation- some of it was channelled into himself, but he disposed of the rest in more remote parts of the globe according to some reports- and constructed the Districts and the Capitol. He's erected various anti-radiation shields around Panem based on both his own expertise and technology salvaged from Stark Industries to drain off any residual radiation, and the world's mostly regenerated itself in the immediate area, but he remains the final authority, taking everything he wants and eliminating anything that doesn't serve a purpose. Theoretically, he could even survive without Panem if he wanted to, but it… amuses him to have humanity serve him, after he spent so long hiding from it…"

"Hiding?" I said, looking at Steve in surprise. "Why would someone that powerful want to hide?"

"After the war began, it was because he wanted to ensure that his true nature was secret to avoid giving humanity something to unite against, but he hid away before the war because he wasn't always the monster he is now," Steve said, his expression now sad as he looked at me, the current memory clearly painful. "There was once a time when the man who was the Maestro sought to control what he could become, maybe even cure himself of it, while always willing to risk himself and help others when there was something he could do to help them… until years of war, loss and hardship drove him to the breaking point, when he turned against everything he'd tried to be and destroyed those who'd once been his family."

Something in Steve's tone told me that what we were hearing was only the basic essentials of the Maestro's story, but it was the fear and apprehension on their faces that really warned me that what I was about to hear would be bad; I had the sudden feeling that the other four people present already knew what he was going to say and were hoping that he was wrong…

"What are you saying, Captain?" Clint said, looking anxiously at his old leader, speaking for all of us.

"I'm saying that you were wrong when you said that the rest of you have died of old age by now," Steve said, looking grimly at Clint before he addressed all five of us (I was surprised at how I was counting myself among the other Avengers, but this wasn't time to analyse that). "Someone else made it to this era."

Turning back to the screen, he tapped another control and pulled up a video image of President Snow making a speech, staring solemnly at the image before he spoke. "This is President Coralinus Snow, leader of the Capitol and 'glorious leader' of Panem, the human form of the Maestro…"

He paused for a moment, pain on his face as he stared at the image, before he sighed and looked at us all once again. "Originally known as Doctor Bruce Banner, AKA the Incredible Hulk."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone doubts the idea that Tony could have survived for over a century through artificial implants, it has precedent in the comics; one storyline saw Iron Man and Doctor Doom visit a possible future a century from their present where Doom's future self had survived by various artificial implants and replacements (Doom rejected his future self as having sacrificed his dignity and paid an unreasonable price in his pursuit of power, but the point still stands that if Doom could do it, Tony probably could as well).


	4. Rules of Temporal Mechanics

I barely had to think about what I was doing; as soon as I heard Steve's statement, I had grabbed an arrow from Clint's quiver and was and aiming it at Bruce, resolved to end Snow _now_ -

"NO!" another voice yelled, as I suddenly found myself grappling with Natasha as she hauled my bow above my head, yanking the arrow away and tossing it to one side.

"And that's why I didn't tell you about Bruce earlier," Steve said, his attention having returned to me as Natasha forced my arms down. "I knew you'd do that."

"Why _shouldn't_ I?" I yelled over at Steve, unable to believe he'd had access to a time machine and hadn't thought about doing this himself. "If I kill him-!"

"Assuming that you succeed, you'll deprive us of a major asset and accomplish nothing in the grand scheme," Steve said.

"I'll kill Snow-!" I began.

"Except you won't," Steve said. "Bruce _isn't_ Snow any more."

"I'm not?" Bruce said, looking uncertainly at Steve. "I take you mean… beyond the obvious detail that he's not calling himself that any more…?"

"I don't pretend to understand the temporal physics behind it, but this time machine doesn't exactly allow you to _change_ the past," Steve explained, as he looked solemnly between his friends. "The way Tony- the Tony who saved my life- explained it to me when he told me how the portal works, by going back in time and bringing you here, Katniss has created a divergent timeline, with your timeline splitting from ours-"

"What?" I interjected, looking at Steve in confusion; I'd only been paying partial attention when he told this to me when I was going to use the machine originally, and then I was mainly focusing on the parts that confirmed I'd be able to come home. "We really… we _split time_?"

"The way Tony explained it to me was to think of time as a… railway track," Steve said, turning to look at me with an understanding smile. "Basically, before I sent you back, the Avengers were on the same course as they were in our past, but your arrival served as the equivalent of diverting them onto another track, setting them off on your own route while leaving us on our original journey. From this point onwards, the only connection between our times is the link being maintained by the portal; what happens to them is their own affair."

"So… Bruce _won't_ turn into that?" Clint asked, indicating the monitor that still depicted Snow's face.

"He'll probably end up looking like that at some point, but…" Steve began, before he trailed off as he looked uncertainly at Bruce before finishing his sentence. "Well, I'm optimistic that he won't."

"You're _optimistic_?" Bruce repeated.

"I won't lie to you, Bruce; if you experience even half of the things that my Bruce experienced on the path that turned him into Snow and the Maestro, I almost wouldn't blame you for breaking down in the end," Steve explained, looking sympathetically at the other man before his gaze hardened. "But I also have faith that, if you know what you could become and what you'd do to everyone else if you go down that road, you will do _everything_ you can to stop yourself becoming that person."

"Whoa…" Bruce said, looking at the now-frozen image of Snow on the screen before he looked back at Steve. "Well… thanks for that."

The slight smile Steve gave the other man was barely noticeable, but I somehow knew that it would mean the world to the clearly-shaken scientist that was apparently no longer destined to become President Snow.

I didn't know what was harder to believe; the fact that Snow had ever been anything but a monster, or the idea that we were using the young Snow against the old one…

"OK," Tony said, looking at Bruce for a moment before turning back to the portal, "with all of us vowing that we will _never_ let Bruce turn into a demented psychopath, can we get back to the fact that I _made_ a time machine?"

"You and Doctor Foster, anyway," Steve replied.

"Doctor Foster?" I repeated, wanting to make sure I remembered this part of the story correctly. "That's the… astrophysicist… that Thor was in love with?"

"Precisely," Steve said. "It was an idea that the two of them came up with based on the Bifrost Bridge that Thor uses to travel between Earth and Asgard; Doctor Foster came up with the equations to determine how it would work, and Tony created the actual machinery. The idea was based on the theory that wormholes can have openings in different times as well as different parts of space, but we soon learned that the act of going back in time through this bridge in such a manner created divergent timelines that didn't have any impact on how history unfolded in our own timeline."

"So… time travel doesn't change history, but it does change the future?" Natasha asked. "Does that mean-?"

"So long as we don't change the settings on the portal in any way, it's still linked to your original time period and universe," Steve said, looking reassuringly at the assassin before she could finish the question. "Once we're finished here, you'll be able to return to your time of origin and continue with your lives, remembering what you encountered here and left with every chance that you won't go through what I've had to deal with."

The other woman said nothing, but the slight nod she sent in Steve's direction seemed to be enough of a response for him right now.

"How did you get this thing set up here?" Clint asked, indicating the portal. "From what Katniss told us, this place has been off-the-grid for the better part of a century; would they really spare power for a time machine and keep it here?"

"I told them it was another keepsake; so long as I'm careful with the power I provide it, they don't really notice," Steve explained with a smile. "It mostly runs on one of Tony's arc reactors, anyway; it eats up a lot of power, but it's primarily self-contained."

"Didn't trust 'em with time-travel, huh?" Tony asked.

"I was waiting until a new Avenger emerged who I could trust with it," Steve replied, looking at me with a warm smile that suddenly reminded me of my father.

"Which brings me back to another point," Tony said, looking grimly at Steve as his former leader turned his attention back to the genius inventor. "So, if… the man formerly known as Bruce… set up these districts… is that why you were able to get this kind of set-up? You know, you know the main bad guy, so these guys defer to you to make sure you stay on their side…"

"Like I said, a few people here knew about the Maestro when I came here, so I was able to convince them that I could offer some useful insight into what he was capable of," Steven explained. "Admittedly, the District's knowledge of why I was particularly useful died out as time passed and the Maestro remained hidden while Snow became a more prominent person, but the rules of my continued presence here were established and nobody had the clout to try and break them when I was being such an asset to the district."

"So… how did he do it?" Bruce asked. "I mean, I've never been much of a guy for politics, so how did… Snow… get to where he is?"

"As far as I can tell, it started with him building the necessary technology to deal with the radioactive fallout left after the wars and went on from there," Steve explained. "Snow operated behind the scenes for most of the early years of Panem in its current state; from what I've gathered from Tony's research and my own observations, he fakes his own death when he feels like he's done enough and goes back into hiding, re-emerging into the public eye when he's ready, and using his 'ancestor's' reputation as a means of getting in with the right people until he has the connections he needs to establish his power officially."

"So… he trades on his own past accomplishments to earn respect?" I asked.

"Is the whole 'President' thing an accurate title?" Natasha asked.

"In the sense that he was democratically elected?" Steve said, shaking his head in confirmation. "No, he rose to power through various manipulations of other people, and when he'd achieved what he wanted and risen to his current position, he poisoned most of his allies at an elaborate dinner after taking sufficient amounts of antidote to ensure that he'd survive when he had to drink it himself."

The stunned silence that settled over the Avengers gave me a moment to process that news myself; I'd known that Snow was twisted, but to just poison the people who'd _helped_ him…

"Hold on; he _poisoned_ people?" Bruce said, looking at Steve in shocked confusion. "I'm not-"

"Your radiation expertise transferred rather well into an interest in poisons, particularly since your physiology renders you immune to most attempts to drug you," Steven explained. "Theoretically, the Maestro would allow him to survive being poisoned, but Snow also gave himself various antidotes so that he wouldn't have to transform to recover; he might have mastered control of his other side-"

"Control?" I interjected. "What do you mean?"

"Remember when Tony said that I was hard to control when I change while I'm angry?" Bruce explained, looking over at me to see my nod before he continued. "That was being generous; I have virtually no control over the Hulk most of the time, with the other guy just being a raging monster who rarely even speaks, and what control I've gained over the years is limited to ensuring that he'll only go after people _I_ know are enemies, rather than anything more sophisticated."

"He's right," Natasha said, looking over at me. "The first time the rest of us saw the Hulk in action, Bruce transformed in a panic after the room he was in exploded when our enemies attacked us; the Hulk nearly tore me apart and rampaged through the base before he was intercepted by Thor and provoked into jumping onto an attacking plane."

"Worked out a lot better the second time he showed up, though," Tony said, smiling over at Bruce as he spoke. "When the guy _chose_ to change when we were up against an enemy army, he smashed his way through the bad guys' forces, took orders from Steve, fought alongside Thor, and saved my life into the bargain; he just couldn't really talk at the time."

"Oh," I said, stuck for anything else to say to that before I looked over at Steve. "And… you're saying that Snow doesn't have that issue when he changes?"

"From what I saw of the records covering the last time the Maestro was active, he's fully aware of what he does in both forms and has full control over his actions," Steve said. "He might not be completely sane any more, but he _is_ in control."

"Can I just confirm something here?" Clint asked, looking uncertainly at Steve. "Bruce- Snow- whatever- has been active since the beginning of Panem… from what you've told us he practically created the nation… and people _really_ don't notice that he's been alive all that time?"

"As I said, they tend to think of it as a distant relative thing rather than actually assume he's the same person; he changes his hairstyle slightly to increase the dissimilarity between his identities, and I've wondered if he doesn't allow himself to transform slightly so that his face looks slightly different in each life," Steve clarified. "He's remained in power for a while as Snow; from what a few of our contacts in the Capitol have gathered, his 'family', meaning him, have been responsible for most major societial developments in the last few decades…"

Steve didn't bother to finish that sentence, but the expression on the faces of the other Avengers confirmed that they'd realised what he was implying

"So… you're saying that _Snow_ was responsible for the Games in the first place?" Bruce asked, voicing what we had all realised. "Why?"

"I think it's his way of proving that everyone who hunted him as the Hulk was wrong," Steve said. "In Snow's warped mind, people always hunted him as though he were the monster, but now he's built up this brave new world for the survivors of an unimaginable holocaust, and he's the benevolent guardian while humanity goes along with simple threats to raise their children as monsters who'll kill each other on the slightest excuse."

"Slightest excuse?" I repeated incredulously. "He basically threatened to kill my _family_ if I didn't go along with what he wanted-"

"That's how _he_ perceives it, and that's only a guess; I'm not saying I agree with it," Steve said, looking firmly at me for a moment before he looked back at the rest of us. "The point is that he's been in control for years, and he's probably reaching the point where he'll fake Snow's death and spend some years underground before resurfacing again; Katniss's rebellion gave us a reason to attack now, and we're going to take it."

"That's why you decided to do this now?" Clint asked, indicating himself and the other three Avengers. "You want to take him out while he's still visible?"

"That's one factor, yes," Steve said, nodding at Clint. "As I said, another factor to consider is the simple fact that Katniss's actions have inspired a greater atmosphere for potential rebellion than anything I've seen since I woke up; people have complained about the Games, but after District Thirteen fell, they've never believed resistance was possible until Katniss and Peeta survived their Games."

"But… why bring _us_ here?" Bruce asked, looking uncertainly at Steve. "Why go this far to try and stop him?"

Looking thoughtfully at Bruce for a moment, Steve simply stood in silence before he nodded, evidently having come to a decision.

"I could say something about how I still believe in heroes and their ability to stand up for what's right regardless of the cost or the foe they're facing," he began, his gaze fixed on Bruce as he spoke, "but, in the end, while I do believe that you can prevail against Snow if we give it everything we have, it comes down to this; I want to prove that Snow is wrong."

"Which is why you brought us here?" Natasha asked. "What can we do to accomplish that?"

"I don't know if there's anything after this life or not," Steve began, looking solemnly over at Natasha as he spoke. "After experiencing over three centuries in stops and starts, outliving everyone around you, you tend to lose what faith you had that there's something better behind it all."

Bruce and the assassins simply nodded in agreement, but Tony stood in silence, and I noticed that Natasha seemed slightly perturbed at something; whether it was something Steve had said, or something his words had reminded them of, I didn't know and this wasn't the time to ask.

"What I do know," Steve continued, "is that, if I die- and I'm fairly sure I will eventually, no matter what lucky breaks have let me live this long- I couldn't go knowing that this was what had become of my friend, not without trying to . If Bruce- _this_ Bruce, the Bruce I know and respect- sees what he will become, maybe it will somehow, some way, ensure that he will not become that thing in your world… and maybe- less likely, but maybe- Snow will see the gap between what he is and what he was… and realise what a nightmare he's become."

"Make him see how far he's fallen and throw him off-balance emotionally while we're beating him to a pulp?" Tony asked, smiling in a manner that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"In a best-case scenario, yes," Steve said, before he turned his attention back to me. "So, unless you have further questions, shall we see about putting Plan A into action?"

"Which is?" Clint asked.

"What else?" Steve replied, as he turned to look directly at Bruce. "A direct assault."


	5. Past Versus Future: Round One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy this chapter; for the record- and for those who know the movies better than the comics- I took a few ideas for this fight with the Maestro from the comic storyline 'Future Imperfect', which featured the debut of the comic Maestro, but I've made a few changes to accommodate the lower mentality of the movie-Hulk at this point in his existence (In the comics the Hulk was in his 'Professor Hulk' stage, where Bruce was basically the one in control of the Hulk, when he and the Maestro fought)

As far as plans of attack went, I had to admit that I liked Steve's plan far more than some of the plans I'd overheard the residents of District Thirteen discussing during my earlier recovery; not only was I given the chance to provide some input, but it actually relied on attacking the Capitol, rather than trying to attack various districts as part of some kind of statement.

I still couldn't quite believe that Steve had the authority to discreetly order a hovership to take off within the hour after he originally requested it, but I wasn't going to question it; anyone who could command the four Avengers I'd seen so far along with an actual _god_ \- I was still unclear on just how powerful Thor was meant to be but he definitely sounded like he'd been fairly strong- could probably make Gale compliment the Capitol if he had to.

For the current 'mission', the hovership's crew consisted of only three of us; Natasha was piloting the ship- apparently it was similar in design to something they'd used back in their time when they needed to travel- and Bruce was sitting in the back with me. The other Avengers had remained back at District Thirteen for the moment- Tony was apparently working on his suits and Clint wanted to take stock of the armoury with Steve's help- but they all appeared confident that, if this plan worked out, Natasha and I would be all the back-up Bruce would need.

Steve had even provided me with an outfit that had been designed by Cinna before his death, which he'd managed to acquire shortly after my arrival and kept in storage until I was ready; the clothing was predominately black, with some white folds under the arms that resembled wings, along with a curved helmet and breastplate- the plate apparently reinforced around my heart- that added to the bird-like impression that Cinna had clearly been trying to create. According to Steve, the final version would include additional weapons hidden in the boots and around the belt, but he felt that this relatively unarmed version would do for the moment. Apparently, Beetee was designing a bow and arrows for me as part of this uniform, but it would have taken too long to get through the security measures between us and the armoury to acquire whatever he had at the moment, so I was simply using Clint's weapons for the moment; the older archer had apparently been satisfied with Steve's word that I could be trusted with his weapons.

Personally, I was slightly apprehensive about using these arrows- Clint had mentioned that he had a few arrows that had some extra features beyond just being sharp; it was only natural that I'd be worried about firing something that could actually _explode_ if I took too long to use it- but this wasn't the time to start panicking about that; I had been instructed on how to set new arrows, and that would have to be enough…

"We're nearly there," Natasha said, taking my thoughts back to the matter at hand as I looked back at her, Bruce joining me. "Bruce, when we get there, do you want me to land-?"

"Just let me jump out," Bruce said, looking grimly at her. "I'll transform before I hit the ground."

"All right," Natasha said, turning her attention to me. "I can manage the hovership's weapons easily enough, and Katniss can take charge of speaking if we need to say anything to anyone down there-"

" _Me_?" I said, looking at Natasha in shock. "I… I'm not really a good public speaker…"

"Just say what you really feel about this," Bruce said, looking over at me with a slight smile. "Honesty's better than anything else you could deliver right now."

I wasn't sure if I agreed with that statement, but I was save from thinking about it when Bruce stood up and removed his shirt, tossing it to the side as he looked back at Natasha.

"Keep a hold of that, could you?" he said to the assassin with a slight smile. "I like that shirt."

"Understood," Natasha said, smiling briefly back at him. "Good luck."

With that statement made, Bruce walked up to the hovership's side door, opened the hatch, looked backwards to us both a brief smile, and stepped out of the hatch. As I ran over to watch him fall, I briefly registered the Capitol below us- the vast white buildings, the shining windows, the people scattered like ants below us- but then a loud roar drew my attention back to what had once been Bruce but was now a large green creature easily twice the size that he'd been, and I was focused on my first real-life impression of what could only be the Hulk.

I'd known from the Avengers' descriptions and the brief clip that Steve had shown us of the Maestro that the Hulk was large, but seeing him on a screen and seeing him in action, even at a distance, was something different. The Hulk moved with a speed and grace that was surprising for someone of that bulk- Marvel, Cato and Thresh had been fast, but I'd still been fairly sure that I was faster than them, even if I never had a reason to test myself against Thresh- but it was his sheer strength that was the most intimidating thing about him, the green creature punching through walls of solid stone with the amount of effort I'd have needed to punch through firmly-held paper.

As the Hulk began to tear through the buildings in front of him, I tried not to think too much about the possibility that we could be killing people that felt like Cinna and didn't actually care about the Capitol's agenda; the Capitol had started this war, and Steve had given us a location where Snow was apparently certain to have appointed some of his more loyal Peacekeepers and other supporters.

The only thing we could do now was stand back and watch as the Hulk tore through the buildings around him like they were tissue paper, demonstrating a strength so great I could hardly imagine that the man I'd met earlier was capable of such raw power…

"They're sending out Peacekeepers!" I yelled as I noticed other hovercraft emerging from further within the Capitol to head towards our location.

"Don't worry," Natasha said, flicking a couple of switches on the console, followed by a strange sound from outside the ship as though panels were moving back. "We've got guns as well as your arrows, and from what Steve told us about your capabilities, there's nothing these Peacekeepers have to throw at us that Hulk can't handle."

I didn't bother to question the Avenger' words; moving over to the still-open hatch, I raised my bow, set one of the explosive arrows that Clint had told me about to the quiver, and fired it at the nearest hovercraft in a relatively straight line from my current angle. For a moment, I wasn't sure if it was going to work- I hadn't exactly fired arrows in these conditions before- but then the opposing hovercraft's left wing exploded and I knew that I'd made the right call; I hadn't hit my original target, but I'd still done damage. As the hovercraft I'd hit began to spiral into a crash, Natasha swung the ship around to fire our weapons at the rest of the small fleet approaching us, the ship moving so quickly that we were easily able to evade the other hovercrafts' attempts to fire back while delivering what looked like a significant amount of punishment from their end. I launched another couple of explosive arrows when the opportunity arose, but in the end it was mainly thanks to Natasha's work that we took out the small fleet attacking us so quickly.

As the last ship fell from the sky, I turned my attention to the Hulk's rampage on the ground, three buildings having already fallen completely into rubble while others seemed on the verge of collapse, before I heard a loud roar coming from another building before a second green figure leapt from further into the Capitol to crash down on the street in front of the Hulk, prompting the Hulk to turn around in the direction of the crash.

As the other figure stood up, Natasha activated a nearby video screen to provide a closer look at the fight below us- there must have been cameras somewhere on the ship's hull that I hadn't noticed earlier- and my eyes widened as I took in the new form of the man who had ruled Panem for so long.

His face was significantly different, of course- aside from it being green, he had a particularly prominent forehead, to the point that it was virtually hanging over his eyes- but the distinctive white hair and beard were cut in a style that I clearly recognised from my last meeting with Snow. Unlike the tattered trousers worn by the Hulk, or Snow's elegant suits, the Maestro was dressed in what I could only think of a purple waistcoat and dark blue trousers, with gold bands around his forearms and golden shoulder-pads, along with thick brown boots.

"Well well," the Maestro said, in a deep voice that became all the more audible as Natasha adjusted the camera's volume to better detect what was being said at the other end. "So Captain Rogers finally became desperate enough to try and recreate me…"

I'd always known that I wasn't exactly the most brilliant thinker even before the Games, but I didn't need long to realise what the Maestro was thinking; since he probably didn't know about Steve's time machine, he probably assumed that the Hulk he was facing was just someone who'd been subjected to the same process that gave Bruce Banner his powers in the first place.

"Get me where he can see me," I said, looking impulsively at Natasha. Apparently understanding what I was thinking, Natasha simply nodded in response as she spun the ship around to position the door that I was standing at directly in front of the Maestro. I paused for a moment to make sure that my helmet was straight- it might not really disguise me, but it added to the effect- before I stepped up to the door, glaring down at the green man in blue and purple.

"Maestro!" I yelled, keeping hold of the handle on the side of the door as I glared down at the distinctive form of my adversary on the ground below me, the right words coming to me as I spoke. "This is Mockingjay, speaking for the Avengers! We are here to inform you that your crimes against Panem _will_ be avenged!"

"Avengers?" the large green figure said, looking up at the hovercraft with a suspicious glare, only for his gaze to settle on the front of the ship, his expression immediately shifting to something that I would have considered grief if it came from anyone other than President Snow. "Natasha…?"

Neither of us had the chance to question what the Maestro was talking about as the Hulk suddenly crashed into him from the side, lashing out with a series of wild punches. The first few blows struck home, but the Maestro soon managed to collect himself and start deflecting the blows as we ascended out of harm's way, leaving me to turn my attention back to the video screen. I knew little about hand-to-hand combat- whenever I'd been in the Games my strategy had always been to grab what I needed at the Cornucopia and then strike at long-range with whatever I could find; I'd always tried to avoid being in a position where close-quarter combat was necessary- but even I could see that Hulk's assaults were practically random where the Maestro was clearly thinking about what he was doing.

"If Natasha's here…" the Maestro said, his eyes narrowing as he thoughtfully studied the Hulk for a moment before they widened in understanding. "You're really _him_ , aren't you? You're me…"

"NO!" the Hulk roared, a sudden uppercut leaving the Maestro dazed as he clutched at his injured jaw. "Maestro _monster_! Hulk _hate_ Maestro!"

"Can we-?" I asked, looking over at Natasha.

"They're moving too fast, and District Thirteen has nothing that could hurt either the Hulk or the Maestro at this range without causing significant collateral damage," Natasha said, even as her gaze remained fixed on the battle being waged below us. "Keep an eye on the screen and wait for the moment!"

Looking back at the fight, I saw that the two green figures had ceased their exchange of blows and were now circling each other warily, reminding me of Buttercup attempting to exert his dominance over another cat in the area.

"He brought you here when you were still a moron, mmm?" the Maestro said, looking mockingly at the Hulk, his jaw moving more easily with each syllable. "Well, that explains what _she's_ doing here, even if I can't imagine what-"

"Talk too much," Hulk said, as he suddenly landed a powerful blow on Maestro's chest, resulting in an audible crack that sent the Maestro staggering as he clutched at his side, even as he glared disdainfully at the Hulk.

"Away with you, you ridiculous child," the white-bearded figure said, hitting the Hulk with a back-handed punch that sent the Hulk flying, the Maestro clearly still willing to fight even as one hand protectively held his chest where the Hulk had just struck it. "Do you even understand why you're here to fight me? I have brought peace-"

"Kill for fun," the Hulk said, literally spitting at Maestro before he roared and charged at the older man, striking the Maestro's face with such force that I saw a streak of what I would have considered blood if it weren't for its green tint appear on the Maestro's beard around his mouth. Once again, I was tempted to try and launch an arrow, but they were both moving too quickly for me to aim; even if I could be sure I wouldn't hit the Hulk, at the rate the Maestro could move he could probably catch the arrow before it struck him…

"You _dare_?!" the Maestro roared, my attention re-focusing on the two green men as Maestro launched another powerful punch at his younger self, this one striking the Hulk's skull with such force that it left a deep gash that the Hulk reached up to examine with one hand.

"Maestro make Hulk bleed…" the Hulk said, staring at the blood dripping from his latest head wound before he looked back at the Maestro, charging towards him as he spoke. "Now Hulk _extra_ mad!"

As he charged at the Maestro with a loud roar, I momentarily hoped that he could pull it off, but that hope was dashed as the Maestro grabbed Hulk's outstretched arm, swung him around like some kind of sling, and threw him into the upper level of a nearby building (I briefly noted that the Maestro didn't seem to be particularly concerned about collateral damage, considering that this was the city he was in charge of, but decided it wasn't worth wondering about it; considering Snow's propaganda, he'd probably end up claiming that the Hulk was the only one who'd done anything).

"Rogers bringing you here was an example of his short-sightedness, Hulk," the Maestro said, glaring mockingly at the Hulk as my latest ally looked at Maestro from his position at the top of the building. "If he'd managed to find Thor from the past, he might have been able to match my power, and there are so many other groups who could have stymied me if they worked together… but you?"

Reinforcing the idea that I was looking at a changed Snow rather than anyone else, the Maestro actually smiled in that same condescending manner as he looked at the Hulk, the expression familiar despite the distance between him and our hovercraft; video shouldn't be able to pick up that much. "Quite frankly, there's nothing that you can do that I don't know how to counter already; you might have been incredible in the past, but now you're redundant at-"

"NO MORE BIG WORDS!" the Hulk roared, leaping down towards his other self, feet outstretched as he aimed at the Maestro. "HULK-!"

"Smash," the Maestro interjected, launching a counter-punch of his own that sent Hulk crashing to the ground behind him, head-first, with such force that I was amazed that Hulk was able to get back up at all, never mind how quickly he managed to do so.

"A valiant effort, Hulk, considering your current state, but ultimately pointless," the Maestro said, looking mockingly at the Hulk. "I really expected better of you… _Banner_."

"SHUT UP!" Hulk roared, once again swinging his fists, only for the Maestro to neatly step backwards before either blow could connect, subsequently grabbing the Hulk's fist as he launched a new blow at the Maestro's face.

"Game's over, Bruce," the Maestro said mockingly. "I saw that one coming two centuries away."

As the Maestro forced Hulk to the ground and one hand behind his back, I was tempted to try another arrow, but I couldn't think what to choose; considering that I'd seen the Hulk throwing off bullets earlier, anything strong enough to injure the Maestro would probably endanger the Hulk as well…

"You time-hopping, green-skinned buffoon," the Maestro said, glaring arrogantly at the Hulk. "Did you think that you'd just sweep in here and triumph, waving your idiotic righteousness like a flag? This is _my_ world, Banner, and here, I-"

" _Sing soprano_ ," Hulk muttered, ramming his fist into the Maestro's groin, prompting the Maestro to let out a satisfying scream of agony as the Hulk hauled him up into the air and slammed him into the ground head-first.

For a moment, as the Hulk turned to roar in triumph and I grinned at the sight of President Snow dealt such a painful and humiliating blow, I thought that we had just pulled it off…

" _HULK_!" Natasha's voice yelled over the hovercraft's radio, drawing my attention to where the Maestro was getting back to his feet. "Look-!"

As I watched in horror, too far away to shoot anything and the Hulk moving too slowly to save himself, the Maestro grabbed the Hulk's head and twisted it sharply to the side, creating a crack that reminded me of the moment when Cato killed the District Three tribute, but all the more terrifying now…

"NO!" I screamed, raising the bow once more as the Hulk fell- I didn't know what arrow I had set, I only knew that I had to shoot _something_ \- only for Natasha to spin the hovership around and fly away as the Maestro looked up at us, depriving me of my shot before I could do more than start to line it up.

"What are you _doing_?" I yelled, walking over to glare indignantly at Natasha as she closed the hovership door. "We can't just leave Bruce-!"

"We have no way to rescue him right now and no means of holding the Maestro off even if we could get down that far," Natasha said, looking back at me with a glare that seemed so much darker than anything I had seen before, as though she was fighting to maintain control. "Bruce's abilities as the Hulk include an accelerated ability to heal, and the Maestro isn't going to just ignore the fact that Bruce is technically him no matter what alternate timeline factors are taken into account; whatever else he wants with you and me, he'll want to take Bruce prisoner rather than kill him outright."

I thought about asking what Natasha thought Snow would actually do with Bruce, but as the hovercraft turned around and hurtled back towards District Thirteen, I knew that this wasn't the time to worry about that; we had to focus on getting to safety.

Once we had the other Avengers available, _then_ we could worry about coming up with a plan to save Bruce.

I just hoped that Snow wouldn't have much opportunity to do anything…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter marks our first shift in perspective, as we look at what Steve, Tony and Clint have been doing back in District Thirteen during this fight…


	6. Meeting the President

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Starting from this chapter, the basic plan is to alternate between chapters focusing on Katniss's POV and chapters told in the third person looking at the activities of the temporally-relocated Avengers, up until the Avengers are reunited for the final battle, with the occasional variation based on various factors

With Clint looking over plans of the Capitol while he examined the list of materials laid out in front of him, Tony had to admit that the current situation put him in a rather interesting quandary regarding what armours he should use for the upcoming missions. Steve had done a good job keeping his suits in condition over the centuries- a few computer chips had been replaced over the years, but it looked like he'd transferred the code from the old armours into the new ones- and the discs and memory sticks the original super-soldier had provided contained more than a few details about some of the suits he'd been thinking of making but hadn't gotten around to putting down on paper or in data back home…

The issue facing him right now wasn't so much a question of whether he could use this future information- so far he hadn't found anything he hadn't been planning to make anyway; the only difference was that these plans had more detail than what he'd done in his head- but how he could use it. Despite this being the future, District Thirteen suffered from a distinctive lack of material resources, and even with his original seven armours in relatively good condition there was only so much that he could take from them without leaving them with even less resources to draw on. Based on some of the holographic technology Steve had mentioned, Tony was already working on plans to turn the Mark II or Mark III into a kind of stealth armour that should be able to avoid detection and sneak into the Capitol for a couple of hit-and-run missions- considering what the enemy forces were apparently capable of, so long as he didn't do anything to attract the attention of the Maestro, he should be all right with something that relatively basic- but that was the best he could do unless Steve could get him access to more resources than what was immediately listed as available; he wasn't about to dismantle the Mark VI and Mark VII suits unless he absolutely had to, but Mark IV and V would only get him so much extra material.

Then again, as Tony examined the Mark V gauntlets he'd put on to confirm that the technology still functioned, he wondered how much he'd really need; from what Steve had told them about the Capitol's resources, weapons technology had actually gone downhill since the wars that left the world in its current shape…

Still, as complicated as it was to work out what he could or should do next, he actually preferred confronting these technological issues to the challenge of having to greet the rest of the people in this district. Steve had spent some time while they worked filling them in on the essential players in District Thirteen- Clint and Tony were used to multi-tasking, so it wasn't a particular hardship for them to listen to Steve's briefing while working on their self-assigned tasks- and they had assured him that they would brief Natasha and Bruce when their teammates got back, but right now he wanted the Avengers to be focused on what they could do here, rather than worrying about introductions.

Personally, Tony had a feeling Steve just wanted to be sure he knew what he was doing before he told anyone else what he'd done- no matter what kind of situation you were dealing with, you had to be pretty desperate to resort to time-travel to win a war, even if they weren't actually changing history- but he wasn't going to worry about that; he and Clint were here for a reason, so the priority was to focus on what they were here to do and take it all from there.

"Got anything?" Clint asked, as the unarmed archer- a state that Tony couldn't recall ever seeing Clint in when he was dressed for action- walked over to the table where the industrialist was currently sitting.

"A few possibilities, but nothing I'd feel comfortable committing myself to yet," Tony said, shaking his head as he looked at the archer. "I can probably whip something up for a stealth hit-and-run no problem, but there's a few heavier hitters I'd like to use that I can't put together with what we have…"

"But you think you can put them together with some additional supplies?" Steve asked, looking over at his temporally-displaced teammates from the corner of the room where he was silently observing them (Under other circumstances, Tony might have made a joke about Steve going somewhere where he'd be of more use, but the unique circumstances of their present situation had prompted him to let the soldier remain here).

"Well… maybe," Tony said, making sure to remind himself of the limited situation he was currently facing. "I mean, I could probably work out the essential things I'd need to make these without being too much of a drain of resources, but-"

Tony's response was suddenly interrupted as the door to the room opened and a group of unfamiliar armed men entered. Shifting into their default response to such a situation, Tony and Clint didn't hesitate; Tony might rely on his armour to keep up with the other Avengers in action, but he'd been through enough training with Happy and Rhodey over the years to have some idea of what to do in a fight, and Clint's skills went without saying even if he wasn't using his bow. Even as the men moved to aim at the two Avengers, Tony and Clint were already going into action; Tony hit his opponents as hard as possible, natural strength compensating for lack of training, while Clint ducked around their initial attempts to attack him before he grabbed their weapons out of their hands and used the guns as blunt instruments. More guards quickly followed the first wave, but were swiftly dropped as Tony pulled on the Mark Five gauntlets that he'd been examining earlier and fired bursts of energy at the first two; the blast energy was comparatively limited compared to what the gauntlets were usually capable of, but it was sufficient to knock out their current opponents.

"STOP!" Steve yelled, glaring over at the Avengers and the next wave of arrivals.

"Hey, when people come into a room with guns pointing at you, you don't exactly stop-" Tony began, as he turned to look at his friend.

"That's not _helping_ , Stark," Steve said, the glare he shot at his former teammate no less effective than it had been when he was a younger man, before he grimly walked over to stand in the middle of the room as the various guards stepped aside to allow someone else to enter the room. Unlike the soldiers they had seen earlier, this woman was clearly not here to fight, being an older woman with long hair that was virtually pure grey in colour, dressed in a dark suit that immediately made Clint and Tony think of politicians trying to make an impression. She was followed by a small group of younger-looking soldiers, including a young man with dark hair and a thin face who looked slightly familiar to the two Avengers, before the door closed behind them.

"Captain Rogers," the woman said, looking firmly at Steve after glancing at one of her new soldiers to confirm that the door was secured, "most of the time, I am willing to let you continue with your private little schemes, but when you expend such a significant amount of energy for no reason-"

"He brought _us_ here," Clint said, looking firmly at the older woman as he aimed his stolen gun at her.

"And you are?" the familiar-looking soldier said, looking pointedly at the archer.

"Clint Barton," Clint replied, nodding briefly at the soldier.

"Tony Stark," Tony put in, smiling politely at the group despite the gauntlets still on his arms.

"Barton and Stark…" the woman said, her expression thoughtful for a moment before her eyes widened in realisation as she spun around to glare at Steve. "You brought the Avengers _here_?"

"The method I used to bring them here wouldn't have helped you win the war, so I never bothered telling you about it," Steve said, clearly unconcerned about her obvious anger at his actions. "As for why I did it, I told you about that-"

"And I fail to see how one man can that great a threat-" the woman began.

"Believe it," Clint said, looking resolutely at her. "We've all seen the Hulk, President Alma Coin; we haven't seen the Maestro in person yet, but I've seen enough to know he's a threat, and you clearly don't know _how_ big a threat if you still doubt Steve's word."

"I'm sorry; who the Hell are you people?" one of the younger soldiers said, looking at the three men in confusion. "Soldier Rogers, what are-?"

"His _name_ is Captain America, kid," Tony said, glaring over at the soldier. "Remember that."

"And we're here," Clint put in, "because our friend here recognised that we would be needed to help Katniss Everdeen become the Mockingjay and the Avenger the world's going to need if it's going to end this war."

"You're here for Soldier Everdeen?" the woman that was definitely President Coin said, looking sharply at Clint. "What do you mean by that?"

"What Clint said," Steve said, looking firmly at him. "They're here because I don't think Katniss Everdeen as the Mockingjay is enough; Katniss Everdeen as an _Avenger_ , on the other hand, may just be what we need."

"An Avenger?" the man said (Now that Tony looked, the guy actually looked slightly like Thor, in a weird way- he almost looked like he could be Thor's biological brother where Loki was just his adopted one- but quickly decided not to think about it; this many centuries on, those facial features cropping up were probably just coincidence). "What are you talking about?"

"That's us," Tony said, smiling at the man. "Sort of a team; Earth's Mightiest Heroes-type thing… long time ago, apparently."

"They were the greatest heroes the world has ever known, back in the days before Panem rose from the ashes of what came before," Steve said, looking over at the soldier with a slight smile. "And that's why I brought them here, Gale."

"Gale?" Clint said, looking pointedly at the younger man. "Gale Hawthorne, right?"

"You know me?" Gale said, looking at Clint in surprise.

"Steve filled us in on the essentials of who's who here," Clint explained, before he looked over at the older woman. "And we're not the only ones; if you recognised our names, you should know that Katniss is currently mounting our first assault on the Capitol with Natasha Romanov and Bruce Banner-"

"Hold on; you sent _my_ Catnip-?!" Gale began.

"Actually, based on what Steve told us, isn't she involved with that 'Peeta' guy?" Tony said, looking over at Gale with a jokingly apologetic grin.

"Excuse me," President Coin said, looking over at Steve with a glare that Tony found himself comparing to Nick Fury's glare and immediately found wanting; even with only one eye to glare with, Fury's stares were _far_ more intimidating than this woman could ever hope to be. "You sent the Mockingjay into the _Capitol_ on a suicide run-"

"I sent her in to mount a surgical strike against our greatest enemy with the aid of Black Widow and the Hulk," Steve corrected, staring firmly back at her. "If they succeed, this whole war will be over; if things go wrong, the Black Widow can get the Mockingjay to safety, and we'll have gained an inside man."

"The man who, according to everything you've told me, is destined to _become_ Snow?" Coin said, looking scathingly at him. "You are aware how-"

"Hold on; you're _planning_ for Bruce to get captured by this guy?" Tony said, looking over at Steve incredulously. "But-"

"Tony, Bruce is facing a guy with over two centuries' more experience at being Bruce than Bruce has, not to mention having sent most of that time absorbing a great deal of background radiation; I have faith in Bruce as a person, but he and I both knew when he left that the odds of him just beating the Maestro to death were slim at best," Steve said, looking patiently at his old friend. "I don't like it any more than you do, but if we can give Snow the impression that we're less prepared than we are, he'll underestimate us; they might not have much weapons-wise, but they have enough that we need all the advantages we can get."

"I think Stark's main objection was that _you're_ coming up with a plan that involves letting one of us get _captured_ ," Clint said, looking at Steve with a cold edge he had never imagined himself directing to Captain America. "You'd never have suggested that before-"

"Like I said, there's a reason I didn't want to bring my younger self here-" Steve began.

"You shouldn't have brought _any_ of these people here!" President Coin said, walking over to stand in front of Steve, glaring indignantly at him. "They already failed once-"

"They didn't _fail_ , they were overcome by impossible situations that struck them while they were separated," Steve countered, staring resolutely at Coin. "Whatever else happened to them, I still believe in heroes, and that includes the Avengers, regardless of what happened to them; the Avengers are going to be staying here until the situation has been dealt with and Snow has fallen, and that's the end of that."

For a moment, Steve and Coin simply stood and stared at each other, neither giving anything away as their eyes remained locked, until Coin sighed and stepped back, shaking her head in resignation as she left the room. Her soldiers glanced uncertainly at each other before following after her, Gale pausing only to glare briefly at the three Avengers before he followed his comrades out.

"So… you think she'll go along with it?" Clint asked, looking anxiously over at Steve. "No offence, but the last time I saw Fury that mad was when he learned that the Council wanted General Ross to release Blonsky for the Avengers Initiative-"

"Hold on; someone seriously wanted _Blonsky_ on the team?" Tony said, looking over at Clint in shock. "I thought Coulson just wanted to move him-?"

"Agent Coulson was under strict orders; he didn't have any choice but to at least _try_ to get Blonsky on the team," Clint clarified. "That's why they sent you to meet with General Ross about it; they knew you'd annoy him so much that he'd never agree to hand Blonsky over to SHIELD."

"Ah," Tony said, looking silently at the archer for a moment before he shrugged. "I have no idea how to feel about that."

"Focus on the fact that Blonsky wasn't in a position to be on the team and take it from there," Steve said. "He might have been in control, but from what I saw of him I'd be far more afraid of him than I ever would be of the Hulk; even at his worst, the Hulk never attacked unless he was attacked first."

"Advantage of his condition being triggered by rage; there's almost always a provoking target there for him to go after before he attacks anyone else," Clint said. "That's one reason Loki arranged his assault on the Helicarrier the way he did; he set things up so that you'd all provoke Bruce into being angry at you, and then my attack triggered the transformation."

"Well, at least we've got a target for him now," Tony said, smiling slightly at the archer before his smile faltered. "I wonder how he's doing…"


	7. Regrouping

As Natasha and I sneaked back towards the area I was already starting to think of as the Avengers' room, our hovercraft returned to its original hanger with no sign that we had been detected, I tried not to show just how anxious I was about this whole situation.

The raid on the Capitol had seemed like such a bold idea at the time- in and out after having Bruce beat Snow to a pulp; what could be simpler?- but then we'd all gone and underestimated our opponent and now Bruce was going to pay the price, being held captive along with Peeta and Johanna and all those other Victors who hadn't been lucky enough to escape when District Thirteen came in…

"We'll get him back," Natasha said, looking firmly at me.

"We will?" I said, looking back at her in surprise; I didn't need to ask what she was talking about. "How can you-?"

"Because Bruce Banner doesn't give up," Natasha said, a certainty in her tone that suddenly put me in mind of Gale. "He might not be a brilliant fighter without the Hulk, but he's managed to maintain control of himself despite the temptation of the Hulk's power, and once went over a year without transforming while living in one of the most down-trodden areas of our world; whatever else he's capable of, he has a personal strength that won't allow him to quit easily."

"Oh," I said, lost for anything else to say.

I didn't say anything about the fact that she was forgetting that my world was like this because Bruce had stopped fighting what he could be; even if I wanted to be bitter, Steve Rogers had seemed confident that Bruce wouldn't fall now, and there was something about him that just made me _want_ to believe in his words…

"Why did he… start to hide?" I asked, suddenly curious to learn more about Bruce; even if he was some other version of Snow, I was curious to learn how he had come to inspire such faith in a woman who didn't strike me as the type to really believe in anything easily. "Steve mentioned that he hid away before the war…"

"It was a combination of wanting to protect people and wanting to protect himself," Natasha explained. "Bruce's control of the Hulk isn't always perfect- if he's provoked into transforming without an immediate enemy to fight, he could be a danger to any innocent people in his vicinity- and even if it was, there are still several people who'd be interested in examining him so that they can learn how to create their own versions of the Hulk."

"Oh," I said, suddenly struck by a new respect for Bruce.

Somehow, those little details helped to reinforce the fact that the man I was worried about wasn't the same as the man who'd captured him; Snow might have kept the Hulk secret, but that was only so that he was the only person who'd know about that power until he was ready to use it…

As we finally reached the room where we'd left the other Avengers, my eyes widened at the sight on the other side of the door; everyone seemed fine, but Clint and Tony seemed to have sustained a few bruises and cuts around their faces and on Clint's knuckles, Tony was wearing metal gauntlets on his hands that I recognised from images Steve had shown me of his armours, and Steve had a particularly grim expression on his face as he turned to the door, although it brightened when he saw who was there.

"You're back," he said, smiling at the two of us.

"Yeah…" I began, wanting to respond before I realised I didn't have anything to say after that.

"What happened?" Natasha asked, looking curiously between the three men.

"President Coin was here," Clint replied, wincing as he took back the bow and arrows I returned to him.

"Coin?" I repeated in shock. "What did she-?"

"Probably to find out about the power drain I created when I used the portal," Steve said, indicating the now-deactivated time machine with a shrug. "She wasn't exactly happy about it, but after Tony and Clint took out her attempt at a personal guard in a few minutes, she accepted there wasn't anything that she could do."

"Nothing she can do?" I repeated in surprise. "She's the _President_ -"

"Who knows that I have the respect of most of the soldiers here; asking the soldiers to attack Tony and Clint when the soldiers don't know who they are or why they're here was one thing, but she's not going to order anyone to attack me because she can't be sure who'd object to the order," Steve explained, smiling slightly at me. "It's the same reason you're safe, Katniss; regardless of your thoughts towards Coin, right now you're too important to everyone as a symbol for anyone but Coin's most… fanatical followers to want you dead."

"And can I say that sucks?" Tony pointed out. "We've got enough crap from the Empire already, and even the Rebel Alliance has some bad eggs?"

"We'll make it work," Steve said, looking firmly at Tony. "Once the Maestro's been eliminated, we can worry about rebuilding."

"Talking of rebuilding, we're going to need to start your training if we want to make sure you're going to be more than a symbol to these people," Clint said, smiling slightly at me. "Don't forget, we're not just here to stop Snow; we're here to help you become an Avenger."

"Really?" I said, surprised at this news. "Even after I… well…"

"After you what?" Natasha asked, looking at me with a slight smile. "You handled yourself very well during our last trip; taking out that many ships with an unfamiliar weapon isn't something to be ashamed of."

"But Bruce…" I began uncertainly.

"Bruce can look after himself; him getting captured wasn't the result of a flaw on your part," Natasha said, her expression firm as she looked at me. "Take it from another Avenger; you have done _nothing_ to suggest that Captain Rogers was wrong when he asked you to join us."

"Regardless of what happened to Bruce, we need to focus on the campaign right now," Steve said, as he looked at me. "You'll be meeting with your prep team soon; Clint will be training you soon, but as long as you're the face of the rebellion, we need to prepare for some of the propaganda videos as well just to be sure all our bases have been covered."

"Talking of bases," Tony said as he looked over at Steve, "I'm going to need some of those hologram projectors soon; if I'm going to start putting new armours together, might as well start with the top possibility."

"Agreed," Steve said, smiling at the industrialist before he looked back at me. "You and Clint focus on training right now; we'll let you know when we're ready here."

If I'd heard that from anyone else, I would have regarded it as me being dismissed because I wasn't capable of contributing anything, but here, I knew that I wasn't being put aside; I was being directed to where I could do the most good.

I just had to hold on and hope that the rest of the team could come up with something good before it was too late…


	8. When Bruce Met Snow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some dialogue from this conversation comes directly from Hulk's conversations with the Maestro in 'Future Imperfect', and other parts have just been adapted accordingly, but I think the final result works, as Bruce Banner faces the man he may become…

As Bruce blinked his eyes open, he wondered what shocked him more; the fact that he was still alive, or the fact that he was in such a clean area.

His memories of what he did as the Hulk were always somewhat vague- he had been gaining better control ever since his fight with Blonsky, but that mainly extended to making sure that the Hulk focused on attacking who he wanted to attack, rather than going on his original mindless rampages- but he definitely recalled a fight with something that looked unnervingly like the Hulk, followed by the sharp pain as something snapped-

"Oh God…" Bruce said, eyes widening in shock at the memory. For a moment, he attempted to look down, but found himself unable to move his head, quickly confirming that there was a thick padded brace around his neck. He was also sitting in what looked like a wheelchair- there seemed to be something on the sides and one hand was on a joystick; the implication was obvious- but he couldn't quite make out what he was wearing, except that it was a dark colour and felt fairly comfortable…

"Ah, you're awake," another voice said.

Tightening his grip on the joystick, Bruce turned the chair around, and found himself facing the white-haired, bearded form of President Coralinus Snow, dressed in a formal suit with a white rose pinned to the lapel, smiling nonchalantly at him.

This was the man that he would become in the future…

 _No_ , Bruce reminded himself.

Temporal physics might not be his area of expertise, but if Tony and Steve were convinced that he was now operating on a different timeline that _wouldn't_ culminate in him becoming Snow, he would believe them.

Then again… it might be worth thinking about the possibilities of making this guy think that he _didn't_ know that…

"What is this?" he said, trying to indicate the chair he was sitting in and the room around him; the nearby bed looked comfortable.

"Just something to help you move around until you heal," Snow said, still smiling at him in a nonchalant manner. "I've included a neck-brace to keep your neck stable until you can recover- which you will on your own anyway; I learned over the years that our ability to heal when we're human is still fairly fast- and you're free to come and go as you wish… within reason, anyway."

"I'll bet," Bruce replied, glaring at his possible future self. "How'd you explain this?"

"Oh, very few people saw you transform, either into your other side or back to this form; Miss Everdeen and Natasha were very good at taking care of… other observers, to say nothing of our own power," Snow said, still smiling in that annoyingly nonchalant manner. "I was able to sneak you back up to my private quarters once you transformed back after I… rendered you unconscious… and from there it was a simple matter of reverting back to my current appearance and claiming that you had been injured in a fight."

With that said, Snow looked more seriously at the other man. "Which reminds me, aside from yourself and Natasha, who else was Captain Rogers foolish enough to recruit for this little crusade of his?"

"What makes you think I'll tell you?" Bruce asked, glaring at his older self.

"I had to try," Snow said, smiling slightly as he shrugged, evidently having expected that reaction. "You know, you really should feel grateful."

"I should be _grateful_ to you… for breaking my neck?" Bruce said, looking suspiciously at the older man. "How does _that_ make sense…?"

"I could have left you in some dank cell somewhere and let you suffer as it repaired incorrectly; instead, I brought you into my private chambers and gave you a brace so that you'd heal back to what you were," Snow clarified, his eyes narrowing as he looked back at Bruce. "Do you think I'm that generous to all enemies of what I've created here in Panem?"

"From what I heard, you're only generous to those who actually _serve_ you," Bruce said, glaring contemptuously at his older self.

"And why shouldn't I be?" Snow pointed out. "Haven't I earned some respect after everything I've done for them? Do you know how long it took to get this civilisation back up to a point where it could sustain itself after those wars?"

"Which you had _nothing_ to do with, I assume?" Bruce asked.

"Bruce, do you really think I'm capable of that?" Snow said, actually managing to look offended at the implication as he looked at his younger self. "I would _never_ incite a war-"

" _I_ would never go so far as to take over the whole damn country and turn most of the population into slaves, either," Bruce pointed out. "Evidently, I can't judge what you'd do based on what _I'd_ do."

"If we're discussing how we differ, that brings up another point I was wondering about," Snow said, smiling thoughtfully at Bruce before his gaze narrowed into a more pointed stare. "Why did you even try to fight me?"

"Because it was the right thing to do," Bruce said firmly.

"The 'right thing'?" Snow repeated, smiling at the idea as though it was absurd. "I'm over two centuries older than you, I've spent that time absorbing ambient radiation that's only increased my strength, and I've spent some time training in combat on top of everything else; why would it being the 'right thing' prompt you to enter a fight where you would be clearly overmatched?"

"If you have to ask, you don't get it any more," Bruce replied, glaring coldly at his older self before deciding to take a chance; if he was going to make Snow underestimate him, this was the best chance he was going to have to make Snow think he was less certain of his place here than he really did. "And if I could kill myself, _right now_ , I'd do it… because that would _end_ you."

"Really?" Snow said, looking at him with a brief smile before he reached into his pocket and pulled out a gun, reaching over to place it in Bruce's right hand before he raised it to point at Bruce's head. "All you have to do is pull the trigger; you have enough muscular control back for that, I think. Trust me on this; you might have swallowed a bullet and survived, but hitting yourself with this is something not even our formidable healing abilities can overcome, particularly not when they're overtaxed dealing with your neck."

"You're bluffing," Bruce said, tightening his grip on the gun even as he took care not to pull the trigger; he had to at least give the impression that he was giving this option serious thought. "You wouldn't put yourself at risk."

"But I'm not at risk," Snow said with a smile. "My existence is assured. You see… I have no prior recollection of any of these events."

It was actually a relief for Bruce to hear that confirmed; at least he knew that he _could_ take Snow by surprise if he was careful, even if he would still be facing a guy who knew how he thought better than anyone…

"When your associates at District Thirteen went back in time and brought you forward, it created an alternate timeline," Snow continued, evidently enjoying the chance to talk about this topic. "Time split off from that moment; one time branch is now the events that led to me, while another branch holds the events that will now happen to _you_ … your own 'real future', as it were. In other words, thanks to your friends, I'm now one possible future for Doctor Bruce Banner, unhampered by you. What happens to you, Bruce, is your own affair."

"You could be lying," Bruce retorted; he agreed with the theory, but he couldn't give that away too quickly. "Perhaps all of this already _did_ happen to you. Perhaps all the things you're saying now are things that you remember having already heard, when you were in my position, and you're hoping that what worked once will work again. Or perhaps you send me back to my own time but with my memory erased. Perhaps you're not as safe as you think."

"The headache-inducing paradoxes of time-travel; who would have thought we'd be in a position to explore them?" Snow said, smiling in amusement at him before he walked over to stand directly in front of Bruce, leaning over so that they were practically nose-to-nose. "I believe in my hypothesis, Bruce… but if you're convinced by yours to the point that you're willing to throw your life away, feel free; I certainly won't stop you."

For a moment, as Bruce flexed his finger over the trigger, he tried to make it look like he was really thinking about it; if Snow thought that he had some doubts, it might be enough to put him off-guard for later…

Finally, after what he felt was a suitable length of time to give the impression that he was seriously considering the risk, Bruce threw the gun to the side, slumping down the chair as though he'd lost some internal battle.

"There now; that wasn't so hard to think about, was it?" Snow said, smiling in mocking understanding at him. "We're not that different, Bruce; all I need from you is to try to understand it."

"You don't think I'll ever _join_ you, do you?" Bruce asked, glad to have something else to focus on right now.

"Why wouldn't you?" Snow replied with a smile. "After all… you _are_ me, remember?"

"We _were_ the same person once," Bruce corrected Snow. "You said yourself that you don't think that's a guarantee in my future…"

"Well, we can discuss temporal physics later," Snow said, waving a dismissive hand as he stood back up. "Right now, I have business to attend to; I'll send people along with food for you in an hour or so."

"And what are you telling anyone about me, anyway?" Bruce asked, indicating the room around them as much as he could. "I can get that they don't know I'm the Hulk, but what could make everyone out there accept the idea that _you_ would give this much comfort to one of the rebellion?"

"Officially, it's because I wish to discuss your grievances in private, and unofficially… well, I'm trying to show you that you're wrong about us, Bruce," Snow said, smiling at him. "We're more alike than you realise; I just need you to understand that."

As Snow walked out of the room, Bruce didn't know what was worse; the fact that any part of him had the potential to be that cold and twisted… or the fact that he was suddenly concerned that he might end up agreeing with the bastard.

After all, he didn't know that much about this world, and even if their timelines weren't the same any more, Snow _did_ know how he thought…

 _No_.

Steve, Tony, Natasha and Clint had all made it clear that they were certain that he wouldn't become Snow now that he knew the truth, and Katniss was so obviously excited at the prospect of becoming an Avenger; he _refused_ to let them down.

He'd made it inside Snow's palace, and Snow thought that he'd just dived into action after arriving here without any kind of plan beyond having the Hulk try to beat the Maestro to death; he just had to have faith in the rest of the team to put their own plans into action…


	9. The Soldiers' Perspective

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the record, working out how to explore Gale and Katniss's shifting relationship at this point was _not_ easy (And if I come across as anti-Gale, I apologise; I tried to ignore my own issues with who he became in _Mockingjay_ , but I just don't think Steve's character would like what Gale's become at this point, to say nothing of Katniss's own concerns about his approach)…

When I went for the evening meal that night- Steve had arranged for his meals with Tony, Clint and Natasha to be sent to his rooms to keep their presence secret until they were ready to go public, but he had suggested that I should keep eating in the main hall for the moment- I was only slightly surprised when Gale sat down beside me with a harsh glare on his face; after hearing about how he'd tried to break into Steve's room while I was away, I'd been expecting him to talk to me at some point, but I hadn't expected him to look that hostile.

"What happened yesterday?" Gale said, clearly determined to cut to the chase.

"A lot of things," I replied with a slight smile; Tony Stark might be a genius on a level I couldn't hope to match, but I found his approach to dangerous situations to be kind of amusing in a strange way, to say nothing of his in-your-face confidence being something it was easy to admire. "We mounted an assault on the Capitol, recruited some new allies-"

"And now you're on a _team_?" Gale interrupted, looking at me in exasperation. "Catnip, we've never even heard of these guys-"

"And you haven't seen what they can do," I interrupted firmly; Gale could insult the Capitol government all he liked and I'd agree with him, but I wasn't going to accept attempts to insult my new team that easily. "Gale, you've been my hunting partner, but you have to accept that we can't work that way now; we need the Avengers if we're ever going to get anywhere."

"Why do we _need_ them?" Gale protested. "President Coin told me everything Captain Rogers has on these guys-"

"Steve hasn't told her everything-" I began firmly; Steve had told Coin enough to understand what she was up against, but I was sure he wouldn't have told her everything about his friends.

"'Steve'?" Gale repeated, looking at me with renewed suspicion. "You're on a first-name basis with this guy now?"

"He's trying to _help_ , Gale," I retorted, looking firmly at my old hunting partner; I could understand Gale's reluctance to depend on a relative unknown like Steve when he knew that Coin was committed to the Capitol's destruction, but that didn't mean I had to like how fixated he was on that one goal. "Steve's decision was… unconventional… but I'm sure they'll get results-"

"Results like bringing the guy who's going to become President Snow into our base and relying on _him_ to strike back against the Capitol?" Gale countered, which at least answered the question of whether he knew the most important thing about the Avengers Steve had brought here. "What if it doesn't work-?"

"Do you think I didn't think of that?" I asked, glaring indignantly back at Gale. "I wasn't happy about it when I learned who Bruce was either-"

"Then why didn't you-?" Gale began.

"But if the Avengers all believe in him, don't you think we should give him a chance too?" I continued, ignoring Gale's objections until I'd said my piece; I wasn't even sure where some of this stuff I was talking about was coming from, but I felt like I had to say it. "Steve has seen virtually everything that Snow's done between the time that Snow was Bruce and when he emerged in his current identity; he wouldn't have brought Bruce here if he thought it would make it worse-"

"And _that_ is what I'm talking about," Gale interjected firmly. "You're just going along with everything Rogers suggests; what happened to the days when you wouldn't take orders from anyone if you didn't-?"

" _Don't_ ," I said, staring firmly back at him; I might be new to the idea of being part of a team, but after the Avengers had done what they could to include me as an equal rather than expect me to just do whatever they told me to like everyone else seemed to have ever since I was Reaped, I wasn't going to let even Gale criticise them like that. "I've been told what I need to do to help the Rebellion ever since I came here, and Steve gave me a way to do that where I feel like I'm actually in control; it's not the way Coin wanted me to do it, but that doesn't mean it's wrong."

"But… you're actually going to _rely_ on the guy who's going to become _Snow_?" Gale said, clearly unable to get past that part of the current situation. "OK, I've looked over Coin's reports, but… c'mon, how strong can he be?"

"Strong enough that any damage we inflicted on the Capitol during this morning's raid was _all_ delivered by Bruce when he transformed," I said firmly, allowing Gale to process that information before I continued. "Steve told me that Snow's become even stronger since he was Bruce; even if we manage to take on the Capitol's army- and you and I both know we'd be outnumbered in a direct fight even if we both unleashed everything we had against them- we're not going to get anywhere if we don't have someone who can stop Snow when _he's_ transformed."

I sat and waited for Gale to reply to that statement, but it soon became clear that he wasn't going to; even if he wasn't happy about my new allegiance to the Avengers, he at least accepted that I wasn't lying about their capabilities, which meant that we were going to need Bruce's strength.

"It's just…" he began, looking at me in exasperation for a moment before he sighed and sat back. "Why did it have to get so _complicated_?"

"I was Reaped," I said simply. "After that, one thing led to another, and the other thing led to me becoming the symbol for a revolution that only the Avengers can win."

"And you're OK with that?" Gale asked, looking indignantly at me, exasperation at the situation replaced by a more focused anger at my attitude. "Whenever _I_ talked about fighting back-"

"That was just it, Gale; you _talked_ ," I corrected him, looking pointedly at my old hunting partner; I'd had time to think about Gale's words from back in the day, and seeing the Avengers in action only gave me a clearer way to express what I'd never been able to articulate before. "Your entire strategy came down to acting against the Capitol _somehow_ ; I don't like them either, but you can't base a revolution on the fact that you don't like the other side…"

I trailed off as I took in the hurt expression on Gale's face, only apparent to me because I knew him so well.

"It's not that I don't appreciate your _ideas_ ; you just… don't think about how to put them into action," I explained, not sure where I was coming up with half of what I was saying but drawing on my memories of the time I'd spent with my new teammates the more I spoke. "The Avengers…"

I paused for a moment, wanting to ensure that I phrased what I was about to say the right way, before I continued.

"When I'm with them, I'm not just a Victor lashing out because it's not fair, Gale; they're helping me to really _think_ about what I can do," I said, staring at my friend, wishing he could just understand what I was saying to him rather than continuing to act out when things weren't the way he wanted them to be. "I'm the Mockingjay, but I'm a Mockingjay that's more than just a symbol of the rebellion; when I'm with them… what they're training me to become…"

"What is that, anyway?" Gale asked, when I trailed off, briefly lost for words.

"I'm an Avenger," I said simply, smiling at the thought as I allowed myself to savour that title; the more I used it, the more I liked the sound of it. "I'm part of something more than I've ever been before, and I'm learning to fight back the way _I_ want to-"

"Which is what; using a lot of flashy tricks and working with a guy who's going to become our enemy?" Gale asked, his old anger back once more. "Katniss, they're _dangerous_ -"

"They're _Avengers_ ," I replied; I didn't know where some of these ideas were coming from, but I was finding that I liked what I was becoming the more time I spent with the Avengers. "They're not perfect, but they saved Earth once when they were united against the greatest foe it had ever faced; they can do it again."

"How?" Gale asked, looking at me with obvious confusion; he wasn't used to me having this much faith in anyone. "I mean, they've just lost the young Snow, and even if that archer guy was good one-on-one, the guy with the beard seemed to be pretty basic-"

"Tony knows what he's doing," I said firmly; I might not understand what Tony was working on back in Steve's rooms, but I'd seen enough to know that he could be trusted in a fight even if he wasn't an expert. "And you haven't seen what he's capable of when he's ready yet; he _can_ do it."

"Believe me, my friends can _all_ live up to Mockingjay's expectations, Soldier Hawthorne," Steve's voice suddenly added, prompting me to look up as he walked over to join us at the table, smiling at me before he directed a harsh glare at Gale, who looked like he was torn between wanting to continue the argument and staying quiet out of respect for Steve's rank. "And as for you, Soldier Hawthorne, you need to stop complaining about the Capitol and actually get off your back and _do_ something to fight them, by which I mean the soldiers who are trying to kill _you_ … and for the record, if you _ever_ even _think_ about defining Bruce as 'the young Snow' again in my hearing, you'll find yourself on latrine duty for a month. Clear?"

Gale could only nod awkwardly at the sight of the Avengers' leader standing over him; evidently anti-Avengers' rants to me were one thing, but talking back to Steve about his issues in person was another matter.

"Good," Steve said, before he turned to me with a smile. "We have our latest strategy ready, Katniss; your insight would be appreciated."

Nodding in agreement, I stood up and walked away with Steve, leaving Gale looking after us with a bemused expression, clearly uncertain what he should actually do in a situation like this.

"Good job, by the way," Steve said, smiling at me once we'd left the canteen area, out of hearing range of anyone who might have been listening in. "You handled yourself pretty well."

"I… well, I was just defending you…" I said, suddenly uncertain how to feel about what I'd done; after Gale had been there for me for so many years, it felt like I'd betrayed him by speaking against him…

"Defending the man you've only met a few days ago to the guy who's been your friend for years," Steve said, smiling at me. "A wise woman once wrote that it takes more courage to stand up to friends than to enemies; you did well, Katniss."

He glanced back at the door we'd just left and sighed, shaking his head. "Gale's a good soldier in terms of his dedication to the cause, but he reminds me of a few soldiers I knew back in the first war I fought in; they were all about killing the enemy…"

"Ugh… isn't that what war's _meant_ to be about?" I asked.

"I got into the war because I didn't like bullies," Steve replied as he looked at me. "That was one reason I chose you as an Avenger, Katniss; you hated the Capitol, but you were reluctant to take action as the Mockingjay because you _didn't_ want anyone to die because of you."

He smiled at me at that comment, giving me a new sense of pride in my decision to stand up to Gale even before he continued. "And, if all goes well… we won't have to sacrifice any more innocent people."

It might be an overly ambitious goal, but the fact that Steve was even going to try to achieve it meant a great deal to me. Gale might talk about the Capitol as though they were all the same, but I'd seen enough of the people there during my time in the Games to know that there were exceptions; even if people like Cinna were rare examples, I wasn't going to let people die just because they were from the Capitol.

As we returned to the Avengers' room, my eyes immediately shifted to Tony, sitting at a newly-provided table as he worked at a black-painted version of the armours I'd seen earlier, with a couple of additional boxes attached to the shoulders that I didn't recognise from the images I'd seen earlier.

"Oh, hey there, Girl on Fire," Tony said, looking up from the table and grinning at me when he saw who had entered.

"Back at you, Metalhead," I replied almost without thinking about it; something about Tony's manner just made it easy to relax around him like he was an equal, even if he was old enough to be my father. "What's this Steve told me about a plan?"

"We've decided on our next major move," Natasha said, from where she was checking her weapons. "We're breaking into the Capitol to rescue the Victors."

"You're _what_?" I said, staring at the older woman incredulously. "That's-"

"The best thing that we can do right now," Steve said firmly. "Katniss, you are the Mockingjay and our new Avenger, and nothing is going to change that, but the Victors are symbols of the Capitol's control over the Districts; if we're going to show that we can stand up to the Capitol, we need to be able to get them out of its control."

"But… but there's got to be-" I began, recalling the reports I'd been hearing recently of Victors being abducted from their Districts.

"We'll worry about the numbers when we're there," Tony said. "Once we get them into the open, I can use the suit to electrify their limbs so that they can't let go of each other when I start flying; so long as I'm quick, we then just need them to stay together long enough to get back to the hovership we'll be using to get there."

"Get there?" I repeated, looking at him inquiringly. "I thought you said this thing could fly-"

"I'm not going to take a brand-new armour built outside the lab all the way to the Capitol and back on its test-flight even if I'm not carrying passengers; I've got to allow something to do the grunt work of getting me there first," Tony clarified. "We've already picked up a pilot that Steve trusts to go along with our plan without going straight to Miss Coin, and he's assured us he won't try and do anything stupid unless we're there to back him up; it's in and out, pure and simple."

"And you can do that… with this?" I said, uncertain if I should be impressed at his confidence or sceptical (I wasn't going to criticise his disregard of President Coin's title, however; I wasn't sure if _I_ respected her as a President, so I wasn't going to ask the Avengers to do so). "You only started building this yesterday…"

"I broke out of a terrorist base camp in an armour that I put together with a bunch of spare parts based on plans that I designed on ridiculously short notice," Tony said, looking at me with a pointed stare. "You really think I can't come up with something better in a couple of hours working with tech from the future and plans that I haven't even drawn up yet?"

"Weren't you complaining about it being too basic earlier?" Clint asked, looking at Tony with a smile.

"The armour's basic compared to what I could have done if I was working on this back home," Tony corrected my fellow archer (It was a nice bond that I hadn't thought about much before now). "It's still got a holographic generator that will allow me to conceal myself and anyone touching the armour from anything that might be looking for us, along with the standard repulsors and a few mini-bombs if I need a quicker escape; I'm not ready for all-out war, but I'm just carrying out a surgical strike right now."

"Sounds good," I said, smiling as I studied the black armour in front of me, already feeling optimistic about our chances; even the Capitol's best couldn't compare to the thing in front of me right now…

"So… which Victors will we be rescuing?" I asked focusing on the main issue right now; fantasising about seeing this armour tear through Peacekeeper troops would have to wait until we had Peeta and the others back.

"All of 'em, if this works out," Tony said, "Peeta, that Johanna girl, Fish-boy's girl Annie, whoever else they've grabbed since the Games ended…"

He shrugged. "We're looking into grabbing fang-girl and the other Careers as well, but I can't offer any guarantees if that'll work, considering that the Careers are traditionally part of the pro-Snow crowd; they might not be as interested in getting out as the others, and communication with the Districts and our guys was relatively haphazard, so it's hard to know who'd be on our side even if we save them…"

"We'll worry about that later," Steve said firmly. "Right now, our priority is getting them out; the Careers' agendas will be dealt with when they're actually here."

"When do we leave?" I asked, only to be met with a sudden shift in the room's atmosphere that answered my question without anyone needing to say a word. "I'm not going, am I?"

"It's… just going to be Tony and Natasha for this particular assignment," Steve said.

"Excuse me?" I said, turning to look at the captain now that he'd answered my question. "I wasn't brought here just to look good-"

"I _know_ you're not just here for the symbolism, but right now we're planning a hit-and-run raid that relies on speed and surgical strikes; you're good in a fight, but right now we don't need fighters," Steve said, looking apologetically at me. "I've booked the lower training rooms for you and Clint to go over some skills while Tony and Natasha are away; I'm working on a plan to mount our attack on the Capitol once I hear from Bruce."

"You're expecting to hear from Bruce?" I said in surprise, initial resentment at being left behind forgotten in the face of this new news. "He's been taken prisoner-!"

"Snow is going to try and win Bruce to his side, which means that Bruce is going to have certain freedoms that he can use," Steve clarified. "Snow might be smart, but Bruce is just as intelligent and he knows how Snow thinks; regardless of what Snow tries, he can only counter-predict Bruce's moves so often before he'll slip up and give Bruce the opening he needs."

"Counter-predict?" I asked.

"It's a pattern of combat that basically results in people getting stuck in a loop in a fight when faced with a familiar adversary," Steve explained. "Snow will assume that he knows what Bruce thinks he'll do and so do the opposite, but then he might decide that Bruce will predict that he'd act against his nature and so do what he was going to do anyway, but then he'll conclude that Bruce was expecting that and so do the opposite again, but then he'll decide that Bruce will be anticipating that and do what he was expecting…"

"I get it!" I said, holding up a hand to stop that discussion before it became any more repetitive. "So… you're saying that Snow will eventually just stop trying to out-manoeuvre Bruce because he can't be sure _what_ he'll do in the end?"

"Exactly," Steve said. "No matter how smart Snow is, he'll give up in the end because he can't know what Bruce will do; a straight fight where Bruce or the Hulk will be acting on an instinct that Snow's familiar with isn't the same as giving him time to think."

He sighed as he looked over at the corner of the room where the current versions of the Avengers' weapons were kept, a wistful, contemplative expression on his face. "All we can do is hope that he'll give up soon enough…"

It wasn't a situation where I could offer anything useful, so I simply nodded.

Maybe I wasn't going to be part of the upcoming fight, but the Avengers were going to save lives; that was what I'd wanted to achieve in the first place, wasn't it?

Besides, considering that Clint had experience with my own primary weapon, training sessions with him would at least be more interesting than anything I'd done when preparing for the Games; unlike the generic training I'd had in the past, this time I'd be trained by someone who was looking to train _me_ , rather than someone who was just there to train another Tribute…


	10. Prepare for the Raid

Whenever Tony had thought about time travel in the past, he'd always dismissed it before he went too far.

He'd been fairly sure that it would be possible eventually- the universe was a big, complicated structure, but there were always ways around any problem if you had time to think about it; sometimes the universe just didn't provide you with that time- but he'd also been fairly sure that he'd never be in a position to master it himself; even his ability to rapidly absorb information could only get him so far when dealing with relatively unfamiliar sciences such as temporal physics.

Still, the fact that he hadn't been expecting to deal with it didn't mean that he didn't feel prepared for what he was up against now. With the alternate future factor to assure him that he wasn't in a position where he'd learn about his future and thus be incapable of changing anything without _really_ screwing up reality somehow, he was better able to focus on the more important details such as getting the armour together for this upcoming mission, along with the other details such as planning for the actual raid.

Strategic planning might not be one of his strong points, but he had picked up enough since putting the armour together in those caves to be fairly confident that what they were about to do would pay off; the only question was whether it would work out when he actually got into the Capitol itself, considering the limited intelligence he had to work with.

"So," he said, after the silence in the rear area of the ship had become awkward by anyone's standards, looking curiously over at his teammate, "I get how I'm feeling about all this, and Bruce's thoughts are obvious, but what's your assessment on this whole mess?"

"Being taken to a future where the world blew itself up, you mean?" Natasha said, shrugging slightly as she looked at him. "We've already established that it's not guaranteed to be our future, so that's the main thing I'm focusing on right now; I'm sure Steve will let us know if there's anything we should specifically do to avoid this future."

"Fair point; the man's had a lot of time to think since our time, and he's got the advantage of being fairly sure there won't be a paradox involved…" Tony said, nodding reflectively before he moved on to the next issue. "How about our Mockingjay? Think she can cut it?"

"She survived two of those 'Hunger Games' when she went into action thinking that she was going to die and up against considerable odds," Natasha said, looking at him with a slight smile of her own. "If it comes down to the crunch… we can probably count on her not to fold."

"Good to know," Tony said, smiling at the assassin's approval before he sighed; he might have a reputation for joking around, but this was definitely one case where he had to be serious. "Seriously, though, you've seen Bruce in action, and you've seen what this Maestro guy's capable of; assuming we can get past his armies, you think we have a shot?"

Natasha's silence after that question was more than enough of an answer for Tony.

"We don't have a prayer, do we?" he said.

"If you're expecting Bruce to stop Snow on his own, we don't," Natasha confirmed, her tone almost disturbingly neutral. "Bruce might be the strongest one there is when he's transformed, but when he's the Maestro, Snow's at least as strong as the Hulk at his peak without even trying, and he's had literally centuries of experience and additional training that Bruce couldn't match even if he was capable of thought when he was transformed. Bruce's unpredictability in his Hulk state could be an asset, but there's only so long we can rely on that when dealing with someone like Snow and his own knowledge of the Hulk; it might be impossible for him to _know_ what Bruce can do, but he'll have a better idea than anyone else would."

"So you're saying we're screwed?" Tony asked, his mood faltering as he looked at the assassin.

"If we're relying on the Hulk stopping the Maestro in a one-on-one fight, then yes," Natasha said, smiling slightly. "Still, wasn't the whole point of Colonel Fury bringing us together to create a means of ensuring that we're all together to fight the battles as a team that we could never win when we're acting alone?"

"Good point," Tony said, grinning back at her before he glanced out of the window, eager for something to take his mind off that particular train of thought; her words had given him a new sense of hope, but that didn't mean he felt _that_ optimistic about their chances of success. "And we're stopping now; I take it we're there?"

"We're… within range," the ship's pilot said, looking back at the two Avengers. "Are you sure about this? We've never done anything like this-"

"That's why it's going to work," Tony said, smiling back at the man before he walked over to the storage area containing his armour, tapping the relevant controls to activate the armour; he might not have JARVIS, but he'd manage to adapt the self-assembly protocols of the Marks V and VII to cope with the suit he'd put together fairly well. The suit might not be as impressive as the Mark VII- he'd had to sacrifice the laser-weapons out of an inability to find any means of generating sufficient heat, and his artillery was comparatively limited- but it could take a beating from anything it might encounter in this world short of Snow himself, and it could still deliver some damage if it had to.

"OK," Tony said, the armour sliding into place around him as he looked at his teammate, "once we're in there, I'll be making a lot of noise on the main levels while you try and hack their computers; think you can do it?"

"From what I saw in District Thirteen, computer technology hasn't changed that much since our time," Natasha answered, smiling slightly at him. "They're more advanced in terms of what they're capable of creating and controlling, but the basic computer code structure remains intact; I might not be you when it comes to inventing things, but I know enough to get by when working with what's already there."

"Fair enough," Tony said, before his faceplate came down and his voice shifted to being relayed by a radio. "Let's go."

With that statement, the hovercraft's rear door opened and Natasha walked over to Tony, wrapping her arms around his neck as she leapt onto his back like a child receiving a piggy-back ride, before the armour lifted off and began to charge through the air.

The suit might be moving slower than its usual top speed, but he was close enough to the Capitol that it shouldn't take long for him to reach their destination, particularly if he kept low enough to the ground to escape any detection systems they might have set up; the only question now was just how close he'd manage to get before he had the Capitol's firepower to worry about…


	11. Archers Training Archers

As I ducked under Clint's latest attack and brought up my bow to compensate, I was amazed at just how quickly I was moving now. The training I'd undergone for the Hunger Games had been intense, but then they'd been trying to diversify to teach me a vast multitude of skills that could be used for survival in the arena; with Clint focusing on teaching me how to fight, the training session had been far more intense.

Hand-to-hand combat wasn't the only thing that Clint was teaching me, but the revelation that I'd practically need to re-learn how to use a bow and arrow had been a bit of a shock. Having seen what Clint was capable of, I was almost ashamed that anyone might compare the two of us; Clint was so much better than me I was almost embarrassed to think that I'd ever considered myself an archer. I could hit moving targets well enough, but deprive me of a bow and I was almost ridiculously outmatched if I got into a fight; Clint's bow might be his primary weapon, but he made it clear more than once that he was far from a slouch without it, and the rate at which he could aim, fire, and then have a new arrow set up was so quick it was almost unbelievable…

"You OK?" Clint asked, looking curiously at me; I blushed slightly as I realised that I'd been staring at him while I thought.

"Just… wondering…" I said, waving an uncertain hand in the air as I tried to think of a better way to describe my feelings.

"Wondering what you're doing in the Avengers, huh?" Clint asked, smiling at me in understanding. "Your skills were raw, Katniss, but you still had a natural talent for this kind of thing before I even got here; you just needed to apply yourself-"

"But what if I can't?" I said, finally allowing myself to voice the fear that had been growing in me the more I saw what the other Avengers were capable of. "What I did when I was out there with Natasha and Bruce was more of a fluke than anything else; I don't… I'm not as skilled as you-"

"I'm a guy with a bow and arrows on a team with a man armed with the most advanced weapon of our world; you think I don't feel that way myself sometimes?" Clint said, looking at me with a particularly serious expression. "Hell, I wasn't even meant to be _part_ of the team at first; Steve, Stark, Banner and Thor were all definite candidates, and Natasha's got a broad range of skills that make her a great choice for any missions that might need stealth, but all I can really do is shoot arrows really really well, and we weren't exactly short of people with a diverse range of skills in long-range combat."

"Then… how did you…?" I began uncertainly, only to trail off when I found myself unsure how to finish that sentence without appearing too rude.

"Personally, I think part of the reason I got on the team because I'd been brainwashed into serving our enemy for a time and everyone else thought that they owed me the chance to get back at him," Clint replied, pausing for a moment as he looked upwards, apparently lost in a particularly grim train of thought, before he looked back at me, the abruptness of his manner giving me no opportunity to ask him to clarify what he meant by 'brainwashing'. "I made a difference in the final fight, of course, but I think there are still a few people back home who'd have tried to keep me out of Avengers business in future if it wasn't for the rest of the team stating that they considered me an Avenger and making it clear that they'd accept no arguments."

"That's… good?" I said, stuck for anything better to say as I smiled hesitantly at him. "And… well, Steve must think a lot of you, right?"

"To go to the trouble of bringing me here after so long?" Clint asked, smiling at me even as he nodded in contemplation of my suggestion. "Yeah, having Captain America go to those lengths for you _does_ make you feel better about yourself…"

"Can I just ask… why do you all have so much faith in him?" I asked, looking curiously at the archer.

"What?" Clint said, looking at me in surprise.

"I mean, I respect him, of course, but when you've got people who can do… well, when you have Tony's technology and Bruce's raw power, what does Steve have that makes him particularly respected?" I explained; I'd only known Steve a short time, but even if I respected his authority, I couldn't help but wonder what the other four Avengers I'd met so far saw in him back in their time that made them respect him so much. "I don't mean to sound like I'm disrespecting him or anything…"

"No, that's a good question, and one you should know the answer to," Clint said, smiling at me before he sat down on the floor, leaving me to sit down opposite him. "You see, Katniss, in a sense, Steve is the first of all of the Avengers; Thor might have been around before him, but he was considered to be a myth before he appeared on Earth in our time, but Steve was the first person to be gifted with more-than-human strength, speed and stamina and use them to defend rather than conquer."

"How did that… happen?" I asked curiously.

"Well," Clint began, "around seventy years before the time we come from, our country, America, was waging a war against another country who sought to establish their vision of a perfect world while exterminating anyone who didn't fit that vision. One of our chief scientists devised a process that would turn augment soldier treated with it to the peak of human capabilities, and Steve was selected as the first subject of this process."

"Is that what he meant when he talked about a… serum… when you all first arrived here?" I asked, suddenly remembering comments Steve and Tony had made when the Avengers had first arrived here.

"Exactly," Clint said, smiling at me in approval before continuing his story. "The scientist who created the serum was killed by a spy after Steve was successfully subjected to the process, with all samples of the serum lost and written copies of its formula incomplete, but Steve went on to become a major figure in the war right up until he was lost in the last year of the conflict; he led so many missions and saved so many lives that he was regarded as a national treasure and the symbol of our country for years even before he was rediscovered."

"After… seventy… years?" I said, suddenly wondering if I'd missed something. "What… happened to him?"

"He was forced to crash-land an enemy plane into the Arctic to stop it destroying a major city," Clint explained. "Nobody's entirely sure how, but some scientists back home speculated that the serum that enhanced his strength also altered his physiology so that he was put into some kind of stasis by the ice rather than just being outright killed by it."

"Stasis… like what Steve said Tony did- will do- whatever- for him after Maestro's assault?" I asked.

"Like that, but probably more scientific; there's been some speculation back in our time about using stasis as a means of preserving life for future treatment, but it hasn't really gotten off the ground completely yet," Clint replied, before he resumed his story. "The point is, we respect Steve because Captain America served as a symbol of what America was fighting for in the darkest war we've experienced in our history, and ever since he's returned… he's reminded us of how important it is to protect what we believe in, rather than just fighting to kill our enemies."

It was hard to know what to say to a declaration like that at first, so I simply sat in silence, taking a moment to process everything that Clint had told me before I spoke again.

"Well," I said at last, "I can see why you respect him, then."

"And that respect is one of the reasons I consider myself an Avenger no matter what anyone else back home might try to say," Clint said. "Some of my superiors might have doubts, but when Captain America declares you an Avenger, it's hard to tell him he's wrong."

"Even when you don't feel like you are?" I asked, even as I smiled in understanding.

"The thing about being an Avenger, Katniss, is that, once you're on the team, sooner or later, a moment will come when there's something only you can do for the rest," Clint explained. "In our first battle as a team, I scouted out potential targets, Steve coordinated our attack, Stark established a perimeter, Natasha tackled the equipment that was the source of Loki's power, Thor dealt with long-range assaults, and Bruce… well, that goes without saying."

"You all had something only _you_ could do," I said, smiling slightly at the brief description Clint had given me; it might have been amazing to be part of this team at their peak…

"And that's what you're here for," Clint said, looking resolutely at me. "You're not just here because you have some skill with a bow; you're here because you represent what this world is fighting to reclaim, and the spirit to stand up for what you want."

"Even if I'm not entirely sure what that is?" I asked, suddenly embarrassed once again. "I mean, I'm still not even sure why I chose to offer Peeta the nightlock…"

"You didn't want to obey the rules that would have made you kill your friend," Clint said firmly. "It doesn't matter if you were in love with him or just wanted to defy the Capitol's rules; you took a stand against a rule that you didn't agree with, despite having lived all your life in a society that encouraged conformity or death. Being an Avenger doesn't have to be anything more complicated than fighting for your freedom, Katniss; our first major foe sought to conquer the world just because he felt like nobody respected him, but none of us were going to just sit back and let him take over even before he pissed us all off."

I didn't know what it was about these people, but ever since I'd met the Avengers, every moment I spent with them left me feeling like I was home for the first time in… I wanted to say since before I was Reaped, but I almost felt like it was longer than that, dating all the way back to when I'd lost my father and had to grow up faster than I should have.

I'd spent so long trying to be the head of my household, and now, here I was, just as _part_ of a strange, unconventional team that was already starting to feel like family…

"Katniss?" a familiar voice said from the door. Turning around, I smiled at the sight of Prim, awkwardly standing in the doorway, looking at us in surprise.

"Prim?" I said, walking over to her in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"I heard that you and Gale had an argument earlier," Prim explained as she walked into the room. "I wanted to see how you were."

"I'm fine," I said, smiling reassuringly at her. "I'm just… I'm training with some people, and Gale doesn't exactly like them; it's… complicated."

"It's always been complicated…" Prim said, shaking her head in frustration even as she smiled at me, before she looked curiously at Clint. "Is he one of the people you're training with?"

"That's correct," Clint said, nodding at Prim. "And you are?"

"Primrose Everdeen," Prim interjected, walking forward to smile at Clint as she held out her hand. "I'm Katniss's sister."

"Clint Barton," Clint replied, smiling at the little girl as he crouched down in front of her, the better to address her directly, before shaking her offered hand. "But a few people call me 'Hawkeye'."

"Like people call Katniss 'Mockingjay'?" Prim asked, looking curiously at the older man.

"Bingo," Clint said, smiling at Prim in confirmation. "I came here with a few friends to help Katniss out in her role as the Mockingjay; she's… joining our team."

"You have a team?" Prim asked, looking between Clint and me in surprise.

"Oh yeah," I said, smiling at the curious smile on Prim's face. "Clint's an incredible archer, and he has a partner who's the most incredible hand-to-hand fighter I've ever seen, but his other two friends…"

As my words unintentionally brought Bruce's captivity to the front of my mind again, I tried not to think about what the rest of the Avengers might be going through right now, choosing to focus instead on the positives of this situation. "Well, you wouldn't believe me until you see them."

"When's that?" Prim asked.

"Soon," Clint said, smiling at my sister with the warmest expression I'd seen him display since his arrival. "They're on a mission at the moment, but they should be back soon."

His calm confidence in the other Avengers should have reassured me, but I couldn't help but remember that, regardless of their skills, Tony and Natasha didn't really _know_ this world.

I'd been completely lost in the Capitol when I was only there for a visit, and I lived in the same time period as the people there; how were the Avengers going to cope?

As our training resumed, however, I soon found myself with other things to occupy my thoughts than the question of how Tony and Natasha were coping; if I was going to do any good in our planned assault on the Maestro, I had to push myself _harder_ …


	12. Unexpected Future History

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A personal revelation here that some may object to, but I felt that there was some interesting chemistry in the film that I wouldn't mind seeing explored further; this is just my little way of taking a look at it

As she clung onto Tony's back as he tore through the sky, quickly crossing the mountains that served as the city's natural defences, Natasha made a mental note never to discuss her thoughts on this experience when Tony was within earshot. The chance to fly without needing a plane was an incredible feeling, but the last thing she wanted was Tony deciding to make her some kind of 'spy armour' or something stupid like that…

As they reached the top of the mountains and the Capitol came into view, Natasha tried not to stare as she took in the buildings flying past them. She had seen the city during her earlier attack, but at the time she had been primarily focused on piloting the unfamiliar craft and eliminating her opponents; now that she had some time to take it in, when someone else was 'piloting' their arrival, she could almost appreciate the scale of the facility.

Of course, that appreciation was mitigated by the knowledge that she was looking at a city built on the blood of hundreds of children forced to compete in a sick contest every year for nothing more than the twisted amusement of its residents. With Tony keeping his suit's thrusters on low power to limit the noise they might make, Natasha was taking the opportunity to take in the city around them, reflecting on everything that she had read about its' residents, and couldn't help but compare it to some of the more decadent aristocrats she'd encountered over the years; people with more money than sense, focusing on their own pleasure at the cost of virtually everything that really made them human.

She didn't agree with killing innocents or terrorist attacks, but this world _definitely_ needed a serious wake-up call if it was ever going to progress beyond this society…

Her morbid thoughts were cut off as the presidential palace came into view; in keeping with what Steve and Katniss had told them of President Snow's ego, it was the largest building in the city, located right at the heart of everything else, with five large towers sticking up, leaving it hideously exposed to potential attackers. Natasha wondered if that decision would prove to be a weakness of Snow's ego or if he was deliberately making his residence a convenient target to ensure that any potential enemies would try to focus on him to the exclusion of other possibilities; the Maestro might have a great deal of personal power, but even he had to have his limits…

Still, one of the advantages that she and Tony had right now was that they knew what was really important for them to focus on right now, and it wasn't Snow's palace. Quickly manoeuvring through the streets to further throw off possible pursuit, it didn't take long for them to find the Capitol's central Peacekeeper facility; it was officially the location where the Capitol's Peacekeepers coordinated their efforts, but it could also double up as a jail, particularly when the Capitol didn't have many prisoners in the first place. As their target came into view, Tony put on an extra burst of speed and broke through a large window almost directly in front of them, the two Avengers finding themselves inside a long corridor as their flight was brought to a prompt halt.

"OK," Tony said, as his feet touched the ground and Natasha released her grip to stand in front of him, "according to the plans Steve gave me, the main security control room's just above us and the rest of the cells are a bit lower down; you get up there doing the stealth thing, and I'll head downstairs while making a big noise."

"You're not going for stealth?" Natasha asked, testing her teammate's plan.

"They know we're here already, but from what Steve said he's not expecting much heavy firepower from enemy forces this deep inside the Capitol," Tony pointed out. "They're not going to be able to hit me hard enough to damage anything before I'm out, and you need to focus on getting what you came here for; makes more sense for me to draw their fire."

"At least you're playing to your strengths," Natasha said, smiling briefly at him in approval and acknowledgement before she turned to consider the corridor before her. "Let's go."

With that command, the two Avengers parted ways, Natasha drawing her guns and heading for the nearest set of stairs while Tony rose back into the air and hurtled along the corridor in the opposite direction. As she hurried upstairs, Natasha heard the increasingly-faint sound of explosions from lower down, but she knew that she had nothing to worry about; Tony Stark might appear immature at times, but he wouldn't bring down a building while she and the Victors were inside it.

She only had to run for a few moments before she found the room that she was looking for, kicking through the door and quickly knocking out the staff inside it before any of them could do more than turn to look at her in horror. As she moved the men aside and began to work at the computers, Natasha was relieved to see that her initial speculations had been correct; the computers could do far more than the ones she'd worked with in the past, but at the same time the essential codes hadn't changed much since her time, and the user interface was remarkably simple. It didn't take long for her to confirm where the prisoners were located and transmit the map to Tony, followed by her quickly analysing and downloading everything that she could find about the Capitol's plans and defences into the futuristic 'memory stick' that Steve had provided for her before she and Tony had departed.

Nothing immediately stood out as a potential way in, but that was when dealing with a casual assessment and limited knowledge of the tactical situation on either side; so long as the Avengers had a chance to plan how best to meet their enemy forces, she was confident that they would have something soon. Quickly downloading the information onto an electronic storage device that she'd been provided with for this mission- it was a little larger than the memory sticks she was used to, but that could have been due to Thirteen's more limited resources- Natasha turned to leave-

"Hello," a disturbingly familiar voice said from the door of the room, dressed in a fine suit with a white rose on his lapel.

As she took in the old man standing before her, Natasha's blood ran cold.

She'd only seen him in pictures so far, but that was more enough to recognise him.

"President Snow," she said, her tone cold as she glared at the man that had once been her teammate. "What are you doing here?"

"Agent Romanoff," the man who had once been Bruce Banner replied, smiling at her with a sickeningly warm smile that reminded Natasha of far too many of the men she'd encountered on past missions. "A pleasure as always… and did you really think I wouldn't realise that you would be coming here for the Victors?"

"No; we just thought you'd assume we would take longer to get to this point," Natasha corrected. "You might know us, but you've not exactly been subtle over the years; we're not going to assume that you'd act the way Bruce acts."

"Because he and I are so different?" Snow said, looking at her in surprise. "Whatever I call myself for the public, I am still-"

"You're not," Natasha interjected. "You're not him any more; you're just the thing that murdered him."

"Getting a little 'Star Wars' on us now, are you?" Snow asked, chuckling slightly as he looked at her. "I would have expected such analogies from Stark, but you-"

"It's a valid assessment," Natasha said firmly, calling on the calm and control she'd used in her confrontation with Loki on the Helicarrier; regardless of Snow's power, she was fairly sure that he wouldn't transform into the Maestro here unless she gave him no choice, considering how everything she'd heard about him made it clear that he was trying to be discreet about his alter ego. "Bruce was never interested in power; how could you do this and still consider yourself him?"

"I had to maintain control," Snow said, his initially stern authority shifting to an almost pleading expression as he stared at her. "I lost so much when so many people were willing to condemn me as a monster because I couldn't control what I became-"

"Bruce _has_ control-" Natasha interjected.

"To a point," Snow corrected her. "Or are you forgetting what nearly happened when Loki sent Agent Barton to attack the Helicarrier?"

"A fluke accident caused when Loki had already spent time pushing us all the right way," Natasha said firmly. "All that proves is that you _aren't_ Bruce; he would never bring that up to make a point."

"It has been a long time, Natasha," Snow said with a slightly sad smile now on his face. "After everything else I lost, respecting your old friendship seems less important than it was…"

"It was important?" Natasha asked, curious about the way he had phrased that statement despite herself.

"Of course it was," Snow said, his expression strangely warm as he looked at her. "After what we came to mean to each other… well, what Agent Barton meant to you had to be given due consideration."

"What we came to mean to each other?" Natasha repeated, feeling like she was watching an oncoming car and couldn't quite make herself move out of the way. "We were… close?"

"Until I lost control and killed you and our child," Snow said grimly.

Natasha could only stare in shock at what Snow had just revealed.

She and Bruce…?

She had registered that he was an attractive man, and she admired his conviction to prevent the Hulk harming innocents while doing what he could to manage his unique curse, but the idea that the two of them could ever…

"Natasha…" Snow said, looking at her in a tone that could have been regarded as warm if she wasn't fully aware what he was capable of. "All I want is-"

"Control of everything so that nothing bad happens to _you_ ," Natasha cut him off, her mind made up; she'd heard more than enough about what happened to her counterpart in this timeline. "Maybe this started out as you wanting to ensure control so that something like that never happened again, but I refuse to accept that Bruce Banner would go this far and try and justify it by saying that it was all in my memory, particularly if he knew _why_ I work for SHIELD."

Snow opened his mouth to speak again, but Natasha had heard enough; before Snow could react, she lunched forward and slammed her fists into his chest, striking a key nerve cluster just underneath the rib cage with all the force that her Widow's Bite could deliver. The attack wouldn't put Snow down for long, and she had little doubt that he'd transform into the Maestro if he was faced with a life-threatening injury no matter how quickly such wounds would kill normal people, but all she needed was a few moments; she'd kept Snow talking long enough for Tony to do what he'd come here to do, so she'd worry about everything else when they were out of here with the Victors.

Hurrying away from Snow and down the stairs towards where she and Tony had entered the building, it didn't take long for Natasha to hear the sound of repulsors and guns firing at each other, followed by a loud crash as the floor in front of her suddenly collapsed, revealing the Iron Man armour looking up at her with a small group of people around him.

" _There_ you are!" Tony said, flipping his faceplate up to look at her eye-to-eye. "I was starting to worry I'd _never_ get to you!"

"And here we are," Natasha said, jumping down from her level to join Tony as she took in the surrounding dozen or so Victors. "This is it?"

"This is all I could find," Tony said grimly, looking back at the group of refugees, the oldest in their mid-forties and the youngest early twenties at best, dressed in tattered prison uniforms and aiming obviously stolen guns at a shattered wall behind them. "Most of the Victors who were in the last Games are in rough shape, but we all acted too quickly for anyone to have gotten serious in asking them any questions; as for everyone else…"

"The most damaged died first and what we have here are those who held on?" Natasha asked, taking in the group once again as she quickly went over what Steve had told her about the Games. "Any Careers?"

"Just those still standing in the last Games when everything went south," Tony said, looking grimly at the trembling Victors. Evidently he didn't know if the absence of the Careers meant anything at this point, but he wasn't going to over-analyse it; they had what they came here for, so the priority now was to get out. Exchanging a firm nod, Natasha climbed back onto Tony's back as he extended his arms and grabbed the nearest Careers, triggering the electrical surge necessary to lock their hands around each other's arms before he flew out of the hole they'd entered by.

The sooner they got back to District Thirteen, the better; Natasha had a few questions for Steve Rogers…


	13. Inspired by Peeta

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In advance, Natasha’s reaction to Snow's revelation will be explored later; I felt that there were some issues that Katniss would have to address first

When I learned that Natasha and Tony had recovered the other Victors, I wasn't sure what to think. As much as it was a relief to know that Peeta was alive and safe, along with all of the other Victors who could side with us- most of the Careers were almost certainly on the Capitol's side, particularly those from District Two- I suddenly didn't know what I was going to do about his return to my life. I had been spending the last few days training to be part of a team the likes of which hadn't been seen on this world since before the war that led to the rise of Panem; I wasn't sure that I really had the time for anything else…

Still, when I heard that the Victors had all been checked out and everyone was well, I knew that I had to at least visit Peeta once to make sure that he was all right; Steve had even agreed to postpone a meeting between the remaining Avengers to give me a chance to confirm that Peeta was all right (I suspected that he'd done it to give Natasha some time as well- she had struck me as being somewhat shaken after the mission- but I hadn't felt comfortable asking her what was wrong; we might be the only two women on the Avengers, but that didn't mean that we were close enough for me to ask her those kind of questions).

When I got to the room that had been allocated for Peeta- each rescued Victor had been given private accommodation in some of the upper levels until we could be sure that everyone was healthy- I was relieved to see him in fairly good condition; he was a bit thinner than normal, and he had a few small scars here and there, but evidently the Capitol hadn't wanted to do anything too long-term to him in case they needed him to speak for them later.

"Hey," I said, smiling slightly uncertainly at Peeta as he turned to look at me as I entered the room.

"Katniss?" he said, looking at me in surprise; dressed in my Mockingjay outfit and clearly sweating after my recent training with Clint, I doubtless made a unique impression compared to the battered state I'd been in when he last saw me. "What…?"

"Am I wearing?" I finished, smiling at his surprised reaction; things might have been complicated in my life recently, but I couldn't deny that I was enjoying my role the more time I spent with my new friends. "It's something Cinna made for me before the Games; a friend is working on making some changes, but it works, don't you think?"

"Yeah… it suits you," Peeta said, smiling slightly as he took in the outfit before he shook his head, clearly wanting to focus on other matters. "But… what _happened_ out there? I mean, that flying thing just… it tore through the Peacekeepers like…"

"Actually, it's not a thing; it's a suit," I answered, smiling at Peeta, enjoying the words that I was about to say. "It was designed, built and used by Tony Stark; he's on my team."

"Your… team?" Peeta repeated, looking at me in confusion. "You have a _team_?"

"Well, I'm just _on_ the team- I'm not the leader or anything- but yeah, I have a team now," I said, still smiling at the thought of the group of people who'd so casually accepted me as one of their own. "It's a complicated story, but all you need to know is that we have new allies with… skills far beyond what even the best Victors can do, and they're here to help us."

"Oh," Peeta said, looking at me in a probing manner that I couldn't explain before he spoke again. "Does this have anything to do with that attack on the Capitol a couple of days ago?"

"You saw that?" I asked in surprise; I would have expected the Capitol to keep their captured Victors in ignorance of what the rebellion was doing.

"It was kind of hard to miss," Peeta pointed out with a slight smile. "They didn't say what caused the damage, but Snow seemed to be spending a lot of time with… someone else-"

"With dark hair and a… broken neck?" I asked, quickly guessing who Peeta was referring to; the other Avengers might have had faith in Bruce's powers of recovery, but I'd been feeling anxious ever since Natasha and I had been forced to leave him behind.

"You know him?" Peeta asked.

"He's… another member of my team," I said; after everything he'd been through, Peeta _definitely_ wasn't going to be ready to hear about Bruce's complex connection to Snow right now. "He was captured during that attack on the Capitol, but we were fairly sure that Snow would leave him alive; how did he seem?"

"Uh… quiet," Peeta said at last, shrugging awkwardly as he looked at me. "Sorry I can't say more; I only saw him for a moment, and I wasn't really paying attention…"

"Don't worry about it," I said, smiling reassuringly at him. "You've confirmed he's alive; that's more than we had."

"He's… important to you?" Peeta asked.

"To all of us," I said firmly (I half-suspected what Peeta was really asking with that question, but this wasn't the time to discuss that). "I know Bruce probably didn't look like much when you saw him, but trust me; when he wants to, he can _really_ do some damage."

"I'll… take your word for it," Peeta said, smiling uncertainly at me. "So… this 'Bruce' guy… and that Tony Stark you mentioned… who else?"

"Clint Barton and Natasha Romanov," I answered. "Natasha's a trained spy and fighter, and Clint's the best archer I've ever seen; he's been giving me some pointers in how to fight beyond just shooting arrows. Oh, and there's Steve Rogers, of course, but he's… well, but's a complicated story, but he's not at his peak right now; he's mainly serving as our coordinator."

"He's your leader?" Peeta asked.

"He's officially the head of security for District Thirteen, but if the team had to declare who was in charge, he'd probably be our leader," I said, only realising how natural it was to say that once I'd said it.

I barely respected Haymitch even after he'd basically saved my life with his timed gifts in the Games, but Steve had done so little for me besides tell me stories and guide me to the other Avengers, and yet I _really_ respected him…

"Sounds… like an interesting group," Peeta said, looking thoughtful for a moment before he smiled at me in that warm, understanding manner that had won over so many people. "You're… happy with them, aren't you?"

 _Happy_ …

I'd never really thought about it before Peeta specifically brought it up, but now that he had, I realised that it was true.

Ever since Steve had first told me about the Avengers, I'd been fascinated at the idea of a whole group of people, each as unique in their way as I had become in mine, but when I'd gone back to meet them, I'd found myself not only admiring them all, but actually _liking_ them as people as well. They might have all possessed skills and training far beyond what I was capable of, but each one of them had expressed no hesitation in treating me as part of the team, keeping me in the loop for their plans and willing to fight with me as an equal rather than have me act as a symbol without doing anything on my own.

From the moment Steve had asked me to be an Avenger, I'd felt as though I actually had _control_ of what I was doing for the war, rather than just acting as a figurehead in a conflict I'd never wanted. Where Coin and most of her commanders had wanted me to just obey orders and go along with what they wanted, Steve and the Avengers accepted my input and almost insisted that I be out there on the front lines with them ('Almost' because insisted implied that they wouldn't have taken 'no' for an answer; the Avengers had gone out of their way to include me in their plans, but I'd never felt that I would have been forced to participate if I didn't want to).

With the Avengers, I was still a symbol, but I was a symbol of what they were fighting to save and the inspiration that had brought them here. More than that, I was the representative of my time because of who I was as a whole rather than one action that had been given far more meaning than I'd ever intended when I'd made it. To the Avengers, I wasn't the Mockingjay who'd defied the Capitol for love; I was Katniss Everdeen, the girl who didn't want to kill an innocent person who'd never tried to kill me, regardless of what he meant to me.

"I… I am," I said at last, realising that Peeta still deserved a response as I looked back at him. "I just… I've been asked to be this and do that ever since I was Reaped… but when I'm with the Avengers, _I_ have control. I've participated in an attack on the Capitol, I've received training from Clint, we managed to rescue all of you…"

I trailed off, lost in thought for a moment at the memory of all that had happened to me since I'd become an Avenger, before I stood up and smiled. "Anyway, I'd better get back to work; we've got a lot of training to do before the next assault."

It was a bit of a coward's excuse, but right now I just wasn't ready to think about things where Peeta was concerned; our relationship had been so rushed by outside circumstances in the past that I just wanted a chance to focus on my own goals for the moment before I started worrying about him.

For the moment, I was just going to be Katniss Everdeen, AKA Mockingjay, fighting for the Avengers to free Panem from the rule of President Snow, AKA the Maestro; I'd deal with working out what, exactly, Peeta and I were to each other when I was sure that we were going to _have_ a future when this mess was all over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With that chapter concluded, I'll be breaking from my pattern to write two Avengers-centric chapters one after the other, but after that we're back to focusing exclusively on Katniss's POV, as she and the Avengers prepare to slay the Maestro…


	14. The History of a Doomed Romance

When Natasha came into his office, Steve supposed that he should have expected it; Snow might be arrogant, but he had to be aware that the Victors would have been the Avengers' first priority, and the President had already known that Natasha was one of the Avengers that had been brought into the future.

Not mentioning it at the time had been a calculated gamble based on the fact that he hadn't been able to create a good opportunity to talk to Natasha on her own before the mission; it was a risk, but it had been a calculated one based on prioritising what was likely to be an issue.

The fact that her expression made it clear that it had _become_ an issue was worrying, but this was no time to criticise himself over things he couldn't control…

"Natasha," he said, looking back at her with a casual smile. "How are you doing?"

"When were you going to tell me about my relationship with Bruce?" the assassin asked, ignoring the question.

"Before you had to face Snow in battle," Steve replied, looking back at her as he accepted her evident desire to address this issue. "I wanted to keep you focused on the task at hand, and bringing it up when you arrived here wasn't practical for several reasons-"

"Including the fact that he was _there_?" Natasha interrupted. "I could understand you not bringing it up when we were both there, but surely you could have told me after he was captured-"

"At which point we had to focus on the immediate priority of preparing for our next major assault and getting the Victors to safety," Steve interjected. "You knowing about your future relationship with Bruce could have been a crucial distraction; I needed to keep you focused on the task at hand."

"Ah," Natasha said, staring at Steve for a moment before she offered the closest thing to an apology she'd ever give him. "I'm starting to realise why Stark found it annoying when he learned who I was."

"Always a shock when it's on the other foot, isn't it?" Steve said, smiling slightly at her before his expression became more solemn. "Besides, considering the finer details of the relationship, I thought it wouldn't be a good idea to bring it up when Bruce was already dealing with so much…"

"Us being together would have been that much of a shock?" Natasha asked.

"Considering that it started after Betty Ross was murdered, I thought it best to be on the safe side" Steve clarified.

"His ex?" Natasha said, taking only a moment to recognise the name; she'd naturally done her research on Bruce before going to meet him, but Doctor Ross hadn't been really been part of his life since Harlem, and she'd had no reason to think about the woman since that last refresher course, considering the effort Bruce had put into staying away from her. "How did it happen?"

"Blonsky broke out and killed her before we could intercept him; his way of getting revenge on Bruce and General Ross for turning him into the Abomination and then locking him up," Steve explained, his expression grim at the memory. "When Bruce saw what Blonsky had done to her… well, once we finally managed to track Blonsky down and subdue him, if you hadn't stepped in between the Hulk and Blonsky at the right moment, it would probably have made even the Maestro's later actions look tame."

"I put myself _between_ them?" Natasha repeated, staring at him in surprise, her usual self-control forgotten in the face of this unexpected revelation.

"You yelled at him to think about what Betty would have wanted… and he stopped," Steve said, smiling slightly at her, clearly enjoying the memory of the good times he'd had with his team before things went wrong. "Don't get me wrong, you didn't calm him down immediately, but the fact that the Hulk actually stopped trying to attack when he saw that you were in danger and brought up Betty… well, it had a powerful effect on him."

"And we started… dating… after that?" Natasha asked (The term 'dating' felt strange when she thought about it with her as one of the parties involved, but she couldn't think of a more appropriate phrase to use).

"Not immediately, of course- Bruce needed some time to grieve and you needed some time to learn how to let him in- but as time went on, you each came to recognise that the other offered what you needed," Steve explained.

"What we needed?" Natasha repeated, confused but intrigued despite herself; it was hard to imagine she and Bruce having enough in common to build an actual relationship on, even if she appreciated him as a friend. "What do you mean?"

"I'll be the first to admit that your dynamic was complicated- and I was so emotionally closed-off I'm probably a bad person to turn to if you want clarification on anything- but I think one of the reasons you worked for so long was that you not only refused to see Bruce as a monster, but challenged the feral Hulk to the point that he kind of saw you as an equal even at his most ferocious; he would assert his dominance, but you never just let him metaphorically walk all over you," Steve explained. "I can't exactly say that it was perfect, of course- I think you can guess that you or Bruce would have trouble maintaining a relationship with anyone, let alone being with each other after putting all your baggage in one place- but with your refusal to fear him, and his ability to understand your dark past without needing to make you talk about it…"

He shrugged. "You made it work because you didn't pressure each other to do it; what more can I say?"

"Not much more without breaking your rules about giving us too much future knowledge, I'm assuming?" Natasha asked, looking at him with a brief smile before she gave him a more focused stare; as fascinating as it was to hear about her actually finding someone in the future, she didn't need her natural cynicism to know that it had to have ended badly. "So, what went wrong?"

"He sustained a particularly serious blow during a mission to dispose of… well, an enemy stronghold," Steve explained, the memory of this conversation clearly a difficult one. "It didn't even particularly hurt him- you know better than most how much it would take to inflict any kind of injury on the Hulk- but a bomb basically exploded in his face and a large chunk of shrapnel was lodged in his head; as far as we could tell later, the shrapnel was left lodged in his brain even after he healed from most of the damage, preventing him from turning back into Bruce and leaving us unable to safely extract it. He tried to maintain control at first, but with the shrapnel pressing down on the part of his brain responsible for emotion, his control over the Hulk became increasing limited, until… well, he lost patience when you were trying to calm him down and he hit you directly in the chest."

"Oh," Natasha said, lost for anything else to say as she tried not to imagine what she must have looked like after sustaining a blow like that.

She knew that it would be foolish to blame Bruce for what the Hulk had done- however she looked at it, the Hulk and Bruce were not the exact same person, and their relationship still had a complicated dynamic to it even now- but to hear that he'd been responsible for her death…

It didn't completely excuse Snow's actions, but she could suddenly understand why control was so important to him; if he'd done something like that the last time he'd seriously lost control, ensuring that he would never lose it was probably a natural reaction (She wasn't even going to _think_ about how hard it must have been to get Bruce 'trained' to the point where they could do anything more than make out without risking him Hulking out mid-coitus; she doubted that Steve would know and it would be tasteless to ask at best).

"It didn't kill you immediately, but you remained in a coma for the next few months until you passed away without regaining consciousness, and your suffered a miscarriage immediately after the attack; we hadn't even known you were pregnant until you lost the baby," Steve continued, ending Natasha's moment of reflection as she focused on him once again. "We were able to extract the shrapnel from the Hulk when he realised what he'd done to you- he pretty much forced himself to stay calm until Thor and Tony could get at his brain and tear that fragment out of his head- but Bruce pretty much lost a part of himself when he realised that he'd killed your child, and when you died…"

He sighed. "To his credit, I don't believe that Bruce knew what was coming next, but when our next major battle occurred, he waited until we were worn out dealing with Ul- the latest threat- and then… well, you've seen what he did to me, and Clint didn't fare much better; Tony only survived because he was able to get away while Hulk was focusing on Thor."

"And that was when Thor was taken back to Asgard?" Natasha asked, remembering the story Steve had told them when they arrived here.

"Precisely," Steve said. "There were other factors that turned him against the world, of course, but what happened to you was the moment that turned him against _us_ ; once we weren't a threat to him any more, he went into isolation for a few years to let things escalate before stepping in to take control for himself."

"I see," Natasha said, already thinking about how best to respond to this news-

"Don't avoid a relationship with him."

"Excuse me?" Natasha said, unable to believe what she'd just heard. "After what-?"

"Give him more time to re-affirm his control over the Hulk, _then_ think about starting something," Steve clarified. "He admitted after her death that things between him and Betty had been over for a while before she died, but he just couldn't bring himself to move on; the two of you had your problems, but in the end, regardless of what happened in the end, I never saw either of you happier than when you were together."

"Oh," Natasha said, lost for anything she could realistically say to that revelation.

She'd always thought that love was for children, but to hear that she'd actually been that happy in a relationship…

"Even with the consequences?" she asked at last. "Losing me pushed him that far once-"

"Losing you was one of a series of factors that pushed him that far; it wasn't the only one," Steve said firmly. "A person's life is made up of good things and bad things; I have faith that you can avoid the bad, but I won't let you try and accomplish that by trying to avoid the best thing that ever happened to both of you in all the time I knew you."

There was nothing that Natasha could say to a statement like that, so she simply stared in silence for a moment before she spoke again.

"That's why you brought _me_ here, isn't it?" she said, looking pointedly at the man once known as Captain America. "You needed Clint to train Katniss, Bruce to fight Snow, and Stark to upgrade the weapons, but I'm mainly here because of my connection to him, right?"

"Your stealth skills were also an asset I thought we could use, but you're essentially correct," Steve said, nodding at her in acknowledgement; he clearly knew that she was avoiding the original topic, but he also knew that he shouldn't push his luck. "It's the same reason I gave for why I wanted to bring Bruce here in the first place; I want to make Snow see just how far he's fallen, and the fact that _you_ hate what he's become is one of the best ways to accomplish that."

"You've changed," Natasha said after a brief silence, looking at Steve in an appraising manner; she wasn't going to judge him after everything she'd done, but there was still something strange about seeing Steve Rogers, the ultimate old-fashioned boy scout, capable of making calls like this. "You'd never be capable of this kind of manipulation back in our time."

"One of the many reasons I decided not to bring my younger self here," Steve said with a grim smile. "He's having enough trouble just trying to adapt to the way the world's changed back in your time; do you really think he's in any kind of shape to see how _he'll_ change in the future?"

"Good point," Natasha said, smiling slightly at the memory.

The Steve Rogers of her time might be somewhat naïve in terms of how things worked back home on many levels, but his fundamental nobility was one of the reasons they had all respected him as their leader during the Chitauri assault on New York; whatever you said about the other Avengers, all Steve Rogers wanted to do was to protect people and do the right thing. His presence during this crisis might have been appreciated due to his strengths as a fighter and a tactician, but she doubted that he'd be as comfortable working with the man before them as any of the other Avengers would be; they could see their friend and ally in him, but Steve would probably only be able to focus on the differences…

"Talking of which," Steve added, looking at Natasha with a thoughtful smile, "when you get back… Get yourself assigned to him."

"Him?" Natasha said, looking probingly at Steve for a moment before she realised who he was referring to. "You mean… you want me to work with you back home? We don't exactly take the same missions-"

"Without giving too much away, let's just say that I… found myself facing a situation where I needed back-up," Steve said. "I made a few interesting allies at the time, but someone with your insight could have made it easier; stick with him, and he may have a better chance at pulling through."

Natasha thought about asking for more information, but it didn't take long for her to dismiss that thought; Steve had already made it clear that he was only going to share what items of historical information they had to know, and if he wasn't going to tell her more now, she doubted that she'd manage to get it out of him.

"We'd better get going, anyway," Steve said as he stood up. "From what I've seen Bruce recover from in the past, his injury should have recovered enough by this point for him to survive the transformation into the Hulk, but we should probably make our move soon before Snow has him moved somewhere else."

"Agreed," Natasha said, inwardly grateful at Steve's obvious decision to move on to a less awkward topic of discussion than her past/future relationship with Bruce.

Steve had given her a great deal to consider, but they had a mission to handle right now; she'd think about everything he'd brought up when she and the other Avengers had gone back to their own time and she didn't have to worry about saving the world from a corrupted version of a man she considered a friend.

Always assuming that they _could_ stop what the Hulk had become, of course; the more she heard about President Snow, the more she felt an ever-growing tinge of fear about their chances…


	15. Debating with Yourself

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of this scene is taken from the original 'Future Imperfect' storyline, but the rest is my own spin on things; hope you like it

When he was shown into a room so elaborate that it had to be the presidential dining hall- Snow was definitely a man who enjoyed his creature comforts; Bruce supposed it was some extension of his own experiences having to hide out in low-rent apartments for so many years- Bruce wondered if Snow seriously thought that he could be 'bribed' with comfortable accommodation. He wasn't denying that it was nice to have somewhere to live where he didn't have to worry about rats crawling in to fall asleep on his face overnight, but the knowledge that this luxury and opulence came at the cost of turning an entire nation into well-paid slaves…

It _really_ coloured his opinion of everything he was receiving, to say nothing of his grim thoughts on the man he'd become.

He supposed the centuries of time that had elapsed between him being himself and him becoming Snow had something to do with the 'conflict'; Snow might know him well enough to predict what he'd do most of the time, but since he'd already fallen to the temptations of his new role he probably figured that it would therefore be easier to convince Bruce of the benefits. The bastard probably didn't even realise that seeing what he was now would just reinforce Bruce's desire not to become Snow;

"Ah, Bruce, you made it," Snow said, smiling briefly at him as he was guided to a seat beside Snow, various other dignitaries and Capitol officials gathered at other tables around the room; evidently, even if Snow was presenting Bruce as his personal guest, there was nobody here that he felt comfortable trusting with the secret of Bruce's real identity. "Please, sit; eat."

"Thanks," Bruce said stiffly, as he manoeuvred his chair into position beside Snow as he picked up his cutlery.

Whether due to the Capitol's treatment or some residual trace of the Other Guy in this state (Bruce had noted even minor injuries like that cut finger tended to heal faster than normal, but he'd obviously never tested it on something this big), Bruce had already regained the use of his arms, but his legs were still pretty much useless; he was hopeful that he'd regain full motion the next time he transformed, but he wasn't going to put all his hopes on that as a plan until he had back-up. He still used the chair just because it was quicker than hobbling around with crutches; he might be able to eat, but anything that gave Snow the impression that he was weaker than he was had to be a good thing.

"You're recovering well, I see," Snow noted, smiling slightly as he looked at Bruce. "Certain injuries take longer to heal than others, and a broken neck is always a tricky one, but I suppose it does give you time to think."

"That's certainly true," Bruce said, making sure he emphasised the edge in his voice without saying anything explicitly negative.

"Oh, come now, do you have to be so grim about it all the time?" Snow asked, smiling slightly at him. "Just because you lost a fight for the first time since you became what you are-"

"You really think I care about that?" Bruce asked.

"Ah, of course you wouldn't; my apologies," Snow said, in that sickeningly insincere manner of his that suggested he just didn't get why someone would be offended by his words. "Talking of thinking, I have to ask, have you given any thought to what you'll do once you're healed?"

"I'm sure you'd like to know," Bruce said.

"Oh, I would," Snow said, smiling at him in that same unnerving manner (Bruce sincerely hoped he didn't look that creepy when he smiled; the beard could only account for so much of the weird impression). "If nothing else, I would be very interested to know if you intend to simply… revert to type."

"By which you mean…?" Bruce asked.

"Attempting to… 'beat me up', for one," Snow said, shaking his head as he looked pityingly at Bruce. "You possess an intellect that at least rivals, if not surpasses, what even Tony Stark is capable of, and you use it to… what, exactly?"

"There are reasons why that's not practical-" Bruce began.

"You've been living in that tower for some time; we both know that you're capable of more than you're doing there, and you're holding back simply because you're content to be seen as the muscle," Snow said, staring probingly at him. "You need to consider what you're capable of-"

"Like you did?" Bruce asked, indicating the hall around them with a brief wave. "You built up all this from the ashes of what came before… and you think I should be impressed about the fact that you erected an empire on a mass grave?"

"I hardly think it's fair to judge me like that; I simply had to work with the tools available," Snow said, smiling slightly at his younger self in that same pitying manner. "As you've seen, without even needing the Maestro to enforce my authority- once I gathered the right survivors together everything fell into place without me needing to transform even once- I have given the residents of the Capitol every possible comfort-"

"So long as they do what you want and don't complain about it, right?" Bruce asked, glaring coldly at his future self. "You were trying to force Katniss to marry someone she barely considered a friend because it threatened your power-base-"

"I have to maintain order, Bruce," Snow said, shaking his head as he looked at his younger self. "If I give the impression that the system can be overcome by a single gesture…"

He shook his head. "Faith in the system could collapse."

"And that would be a bad thing?" Bruce continued; he was keeping his voice low so that Snow couldn't legitimately make him stop talking without raising too many questions, but he was going to make his points heard. "Katniss told me about some of your parties; people eat so much food they actually make themselves throw up in order to eat more?"

"It allows for a variety-" Snow began.

"When you have people like Katniss starving in the outer districts because their families can barely put food on the table?" Bruce interjected, still staring at Snow in a manner that made it clear that his long training was the only thing preventing his transformation at this point. "Even if you don't pay attention to the conditions out there in depth, you can't ignore them forever; how do you excuse that?"

"We hardly have infinite resources, Bruce; I cannot be expected to keep track of the food supply allocated to every district after a certain point," Snow said, sounding almost apologetic and defensive; it was only thanks to Bruce's experience with himself that he could even be sure that Snow was lying. "As for our control of the system, we only ever ask for what the Districts can provide; it's not like I expect District Eleven to provide more grain than they can grow for themselves, or District Five to provide so much energy that they suffer, after all."

"You just segregate talents and deprive people of the chance to dream of more, huh?" Bruce said, deliberately picking at his food even as he glared at Snow; he might need to eat to keep his strength up, but that doesn't mean he had to like the idea of eating a meal produced by what amount to slave labour. "What kind of screwed-up reasoning allows you to you justify _that_?"

"After everything we lost during the wars, I have to ensure that the population remains focused on the tasks at hand," Snow said, actually managing to sound offended. "I would like nothing more than to give people freedom to develop- it was that self-same freedom that created us, after all- but… well, once you see what that freedom produces, you learn to be more sceptical of the benefits of letting people explore a variety of options in favour of keeping them focused on the task at hand."

"Huh," Bruce said, keeping his tone cool as he took a drink while glaring at Snow. "And you keep them isolated from each other for the same reason?"

"As I said," Snow said, smiling at Bruce in a sickeningly reassuring manner that completely failed to achieve its goal, "if people can't dream for more, they'll never set their sights too high."

Bruce simply stared at Snow in silence, not trusting himself to speak; he was recovering, but he wasn't ready to get into too heated an argument just in case either of them really lost control…

But _God_ , this guy honestly thought that he was going to accept the idea that keeping people isolated and suppressed was for their own good? The argument might work on a practical level, but if you were going to suppress the development of the human race, you might as well just blow up the planet now because you were never going to let humanity go any further or produce anything new.

This wasn't about protecting humanity from itself; this was about Snow wanting to stay at the top of the pile by making sure that nobody had the chance to be a threat to him.

"I see it in your eyes, Bruce…" Snow said, staring thoughtfully at him. "You're repulsed at the world I've created."

Bruce didn't bother to answer that statement; the glare he was directing to his future self should be enough of an answer.

"But you cannot judge me, Bruce, without having lived the length of time that will bring you to me; you cannot imagine what it was like," Snow said, shaking his head as though at some difficult memory. "For so long as I can recall, humans toted their moral superiority over me; _I_ was 'the monster'… But when it came down to it, _they_ were the ones who brought destruction on themselves. Me, a monster? I wasn't even in their league."

Bruce wasn't going to spend time arguing with that particular statement; he'd seen enough in his travels to know that sometimes man could be the greatest monster of them all, and Ross's vendetta against him had certainly provoked far more damage than he'd ever inflicted on his own, but that didn't mean that he completely agreed with his older self's perspective.

"I've spent my life being in the right place at the right time," Snow continued, looking reflectively upwards as he sipped at his drink. "If I'd been at ground zero of any of those bombs, I'd have died just as quickly as any puny human, but instead I was elsewhere… and benefited from the radiation that lay around like waste material. It would have killed millions, but I soaked it all up, keeping the world from the worst of the damage. I could go where others couldn't, do what others couldn't… and I survived, and forged this."

If his other self hadn't said that last sentence, Bruce might have been inclined to sympathise with him, but by reinforcing how he'd established his own power base, he'd made it clear that this was mainly about him being the one in charge more than protecting people from their own mistakes.

"Now, Bruce," Snow said, looking at him with a warm smile, "I'm entitled to what the world tried to keep from me… and so are you."

 _And here we are_ … Bruce mused to himself; he'd been waiting for Snow to actually get to this point.

"Stay here," Snow said, looking encouragingly at Bruce. "Rule at my side. Don't you see, Bruce… we owe humans nothing. They're just takers. They take all we have, and give nothing back apart, all while spitting in our faces when we _do_ get something."

"That's crap and you know it," Bruce countered, glaring back at the older man. "I have the Avengers, Betty-"

"You don't know what's ahead for you; I do," Snow said, still staring at Bruce as though urging his younger self to listen to him. "They'll take it all away because they wanted you to play by their rules, incapable of understanding what we go through every day for _their_ sake… and you'll end up with nothing and no one. Why go back to that, when you can stay here and have everything?"

Bruce could almost guess what Snow was talking about at this point- even after the Battle of New York, Natasha in particular sometimes looked at him with a degree of apprehension, clearly remembering what he'd nearly done to her after the Helicarrier assault, and Tony still tried to teasingly provoke him when they were alone in the lab- but it wasn't like Snow seemed to remember it.

Maybe the Avengers couldn't completely understand him, but that was one of the reasons they had come together as a team; none of them could completely relate to each other because nobody else in the world could completely relate to _any_ of them. They were a strange, screwed-up family of outcasts and loners, who had come together to be a part of something greater and find a new purpose by defending those who couldn't protect themselves.

The team might have genuinely 'betrayed' him in Snow's past- even if he couldn't imagine what would prompt them to do something like that- or maybe it was just Snow twisting the situation to justify his actions from his own corrupted perspective, but _Bruce_ wasn't going to judge the Avengers for actions they might commit based on the word of a madman, even if that man was him.

"You said yourself time has split off," he said, deciding to focus on the present rather than getting lost in his memory; he doubted his future self would listen to any attempt to argue with him even if Bruce had the time to come up with the right words to convince him to at least listen to his perspective on their past. "Maybe what happened to you won't happen to me. Maybe things will be different."

"Persecution. Betrayal. Hatred," Snow said, staring coldly at him. "These things don't change."

The worst part was that Bruce had to agree with that; there would always be people out there who would hate and fear what wasn't normal… and the Hulk gave people far more reasons to fear and hate him than the fact that his skin was green…

"Just tell me you'll think about it," the older man said, looking solemnly at him.

"I'll think about it," Bruce replied, as he raised his glass in a seemingly sincere toast.

Privately, however, he'd already made up his mind about his stance on Snow's actions; after years of prosecution, all Snow was doing was transferring responsibility for his crimes on to someone else.

Bruce was fully aware that he'd done the same thing in his past more than once- after all, trying to blame the Hulk for the damage he caused wasn't all that different from Snow blaming the human race for pushing him this far- but channelling that anger outward was unquestionably worse; all Snow had done was effectively destroy his ability to see the best in mankind by focusing on their worst aspects while convincing himself that he was somehow superior.

Hatred and fear were a part of human nature, but he'd seen enough evidence that mankind could rise above their mistakes; he'd take believing in mankind's ability to be better than they were over the idea that they would always revert to type any day of the week.

He wasn't even sure if Snow actually believed any of what he'd just said or if he was just using some kind of sick and twisted argument he'd come up with to justify his actions if anyone challenged him in some public forum and he needed a counter-argument, but that didn't matter right now; he'd heard enough to know that trying to talk this guy down was never going to work.

Snow might have been him once upon a time, but everything Bruce had seen and heard made it obvious that they'd become very different people since the days when they were the same man; he had no idea how he'd even start to appeal to Snow's sense, and had a feel that it would be pointless to even try.

The only problem with that revelation was that, since he was clearly never going to agree with Snow's warped view of humanity, it raised the question of how long he could leave Snow hanging before he had to either do something against his nature, or admit that he wouldn't go that far and have Snow increase his efforts to 'convince' him…


	16. Rallying the Reserves

As I walked into the trophy room where I had first heard of the Avengers, I tried not to show too much surprise when I saw Finnick and Johanna standing on either side of Steve in one corner of the room; I'd been the first candidate, but I could hardly have expected Steve to _only_ recruit me for the Avengers…

"Hi," I said, nodding at them. "So… you're on the team too?"

"Team?" Johanna repeated, looking at me with her usual exasperated glare. "What kind of team are you talking about? I don't even _know_ this guy…"

"You wouldn't," Steve said, smiling briefly over at Johanna, clearly unfazed by her attitude (Then again, after working with Bruce when he was the Hulk, it was probably hard to be intimidated by anyone else, regardless of how poor an attitude they had). "As I was about to explain before Katniss arrived, you're here because you represent something to the people of Panem, and I want to use that symbolism when we make our stand."

"In other words, you want us to-" Johanna began.

"What I'm _asking_ is for you to work with my friends to make a stand against the tyranny of President Snow and put down the most obvious threat to any potential revolution," Steve said, looking coolly back at Johanna. "You're not just a tool to go out and die for my demands; if that was all I wanted for this team, I could select any soldier out there in District Thirteen and dress them up in a fancy outfit. What I want from you two are skilled fighters with a knack for improvisation who have already made an impression in the Capitol as yourselves; if Snow wanted to eliminate the Victors because they were a potential threat to his own authority, we're going to make it clear that you're going to _use_ that potential."

"He's telling the truth, Johanna," I said, looking resolutely at the notorious District Seven Victor. "Steve brought me into this team, and he's never done anything to suggest that he sees me as a tool or anything; all he wants is for us to help him take down Snow… and join this team he's bringing together…"

"Although I should clarify, if you do join us, we'd officially be classifying you as reserves rather than part of the main team," Steve suddenly put in, looking over at Finnick and Johanna as he spoke. "Katniss is an Avenger; the two of you are… additional assets."

"I take it you don't mean cannon fodder?" Finnick asked, smiling slightly at Steve.

"Of course not," Steve replied, an edge to his voice as though he was offended that Finnick even had to ask that question.

"Back up a minute; _I'm_ the only new Avenger?" I said, looking at Steve in surprise. "But… but they're Victors too-!"

"Victors who we're including in the team because we need to give the people of Panem Avengers that they can recognise, rather than relying on one familiar face to make them trust us," Steve said, looking at me apologetically as though wanting to be sure I understood what he was about to say. "You're still an Avenger, Katniss- if I ever did anything to make you think that you were somehow interchangeable, that wasn't intentional- but Johanna and Finnick are very distinctive in the Capitol for their methods of victory in their Games, as well as their trademark weapons; they didn't make the same kind of impression that you did, but they made an impression."

"Oh," I said, lost for anything else to say to that news (I suddenly remembered what Steve had told me about his reasons for choosing me as an Avenger over Finnick, but decided not to mention it; it would just be in bad taste at best).

"Can I just ask why we're not being counted as… Avengers?" Finnick asked, looking at Steve in his familiar teasing manner.

"As I told Katniss earlier, she has… the right stuff for the team," Steve said simply. "The precise details are complicated to explain without giving you a history lesson that we don't really have time for now, but to put it bluntly, from what I've seen of you over the years… I trust that you both hate the Capitol, but there are other factors that I feel should be taken into account before you can be considered real Avengers. To be honest, I'd keep it at Katniss if I felt it was practical, but we need more familiar faces on the team if the public are going to trust us, and Victors are the best choice, even if most of them either Careers who can't be trusted because of their potential ties to the Capitol or have just been through too much since their Games to be in any kind of shape to help in a fight."

"And there's a lot of _those_ ," I noted grimly, remembering all the other past Victors I'd witnessed while preparing for the Quarter Quell; Haymitch's drinking was an obvious example, but then there were the morphling addicts, Wiress and Mags' traumatised states…

"So we're the best of a bad lot?" Finnick asked, smiling over at Steve in a self-deprecating manner.

"Like I said to Katniss, you're both distinctive, you're both anti-Capitol, and you're physically capable; that's what matters most right now," Steve clarified. "Beetee and Tony have been working on some additional weapons that you can use when we start the attack based on your strengths in the Arena; I'm just waiting for him to get here…"

"And here I am," Tony said as he stepped into the room, wearing a black-and-gold version of his armour with the helmet under one arm, grinning at the four of us as Clint and Natasha followed him, the two assassins each holding Finnick and Johanna's signature weapons from their respective Games. "You'd be Johanna and Finnick, right? Good to meet you; Tony Stark, and these are Natasha and Clint."

"Uh… hi," Johanna said, nodding slightly at Tony, clearly at a loss for the first time in a while at the sight of Tony's armour; her brief glimpse of his emergency suit during their escape evidently wasn't the same thing.

"OK," Tony said, standing back to let the two assassins provide my fellow Victors with their new weapons, "for Fin-boy, I took your standard trident and updated it; you can still use it as a melee weapon, but it's also able to fire small lasers from the tips for additional range, and I've even included a few small missiles for good measure."

"Missiles?" Finnick repeated, looking at his trident in surprise.

"Small ones in the tips," Tony clarified. "There's only three of them, but they'll make a fair-sized bang for their size; could be useful if we're outnumbered and you're careful."

"We're expecting to be outnumbered?" I asked.

"We're breaking into the presidential palace, 'jay," Tony said as he glanced over at me. "I'd be amazed if we didn't encounter _some_ guards."

"Good point," I noted.

"Anyway," Tony continued, smiling as he turned back to Johanna as she studied her two new axes and the accompanying pair of gloves, "for you, in honour of your _very_ distinctive style of combat, we took a couple of axes, upgraded the blades with some of the material I used for my older armours, and added in magnets in the handles that are synced to these gloves."

"Meaning…?" Johanna asked uncertainly, even as she experimentally raised and lowered the axes to test their weight.

"Meaning that you can throw these axes as far as you want and then trigger the magnets to pull them back towards you," Clint explained. "The magnets they're attached to are in the handles, so there's no risk of you stabbing yourself with your own axe-blade, and you can use them to repel the axes to add additional power to your throws."

"Ah," Johanna said, her smile broadening as she looked at the axes once more. " _Nice_ …"

After a moment of testing the axes' weights, she looked inquiringly at me. "OK, I'm fairly sure I get why you're here, but where's lover-boy in all this?"

"Lov- Peeta?" I said in surprise.

"He's not on the team," Clint said firmly before I could answer.

"He's not?" Finnick said, looking at my fellow archer in surprise. "Why?"

"Well," Tony said, looking solemnly at my fellow Victors and I, "to put it bluntly, the Avengers had a talk about it while checking over footage from your Games, and we all came to the same conclusion; Peeta's a nice guy, great choice for public speaking, I'd definitely nominate him as our coordinator when it comes to doing stuff that makes us look good for the cameras, but when it comes to dealing with the physical side of things… well, strength aside, he kinda sucks."

"He 'sucks'?" Finnick repeated, looking at Tony in surprise. "He's a _Victor_ -"

"Mainly because he stuck with our girl here and held on tight; all due respect, he didn't really _do_ anything to contribute to the victory," Tony said, indicating me with a slight smile before continuing. "His entire strategy in his Games was basically try to buy time for Katniss to win; noble motives, but I'm not going to fight alongside a guy who's there to be a human shield if Mockingjay gets shot… when you get down to it, he's basically like Steve here before he got out of advertising and his balls dropped."

"Uh… excuse me?" I said, looking at Steve in confusion as he and Tony exchanged amused smiled at that comment. "What's that all about?"

"Oh, when I was first subjected to the process that gave me my strength, I was basically sent out to promote war bonds with a bunch of dancers," Steve said, smiling wistfully at the memory before he looked grimly at Tony. "For the record, Stark, I mainly went along with that because the only other way I was going to be of any use to the war effort then was to be continually tested and stuck in a lab; would you have wanted that?"

"Mmm… if I was the guy _doing_ work, maybe, but if you're just lying around, I can see how that would get boring," Tony admitted, nodding back at Steve before he looked over at the other two Victors. "Just to be sure I'm clear- not that I don't trust Capsicle's choice or anything- what _are_ your issues with the Capitol? I mean, Axey I get- what she pulled off could make the big guy look calm, and it probably pissed Snow off big-time- but from what I've read, I thought Finny here was the Capitol sweetheart?"

"Let's just say I didn't _ask_ for all those lovers," Finnick said, looking pointedly at Tony.

"Ah," Tony said, evidently understanding the implications of Finnick's statement.

"And he wasn't the only one to have to deal with that kind of offer," Johanna added, looking at Finnick with the closest thing to sympathy I'd seen her show for a while. "He's just the one who chose not to push his luck."

"That's… why you lost your family?" I said, suddenly unsure what to say as I looked at Johanna; I wanted to offer sympathy, but she didn't exactly give the impression that she'd appreciate it.

"Bingo," Johanna said grimly. "We play ball and go to his arranged appointments, or he kills everyone we care about."

"Snow makes you into _prostitutes_?" Natasha said, looking frankly sick at the thought.

"OK, am I the only thinking that Snow seems to have set out to try and make us all think he's an absolute douche?" Tony asked, looking over at the other Avengers. "I mean, what was Bruce _thinking_?"

"He's not," Steve said grimly. "Almost two centuries of loss and grief, combined with all the radioactive fallout he absorbed… he might not be sitting cackling in a corner, but the man we once knew as Bruce Banner isn't exactly a picture of mental health these days either. Whatever Bruce thinks about in your time, for Snow, it's all about ensuring he has power so that he can't be hurt again."

"You'd better not be thinking of using that as an excuse-" Johanna began.

"I'm not," Steve said, looking back at her. "Whatever Bruce was to me in the past, Snow isn't him any more; he's just the thing that took over when Bruce was left broken by tragedy and despair, who's allowed his pain to consume him. When we get in there, we are going to take Snow _down_ , and that's that; there's no point in trying to hold him for a trial or anything foolish like that."

"Coin isn't going to like that…" Finnick said with a slight smile.

"Which is all the more reason for us to do it that way," Tony said, returning Finnick's smile with one of his own. "Seriously, that woman's trying _way_ too hard to be in charge…"

"She's used to exerting authority over people who've relied on her to lead them in surviving on their own; the fact that everyone here doesn't just automatically toe the line and take her cue doesn't sit well with her," Steve said, joining the rest of us in smiling at the thought before his manner became more grim. "I've tolerated it because we were relying on limited numbers and resources to defeat a foe who controls pretty much everything, but with you all here… well, she's hardly going to object, is she?"

"We're going in now?" I said in surprise.

"Now," Steve confirmed. "Snow and I know how each other think, which means he'll know why I rescued the Victors; if we give him an inch, he'll do everything he can to discredit you all before we can get you back in the Capitol."

"Strike while they love us, huh?" Finnick asked.

"Bingo," Steve confirmed, as he walked forward towards the corner of the room where the Avengers' weapons hung. "Besides, if you're going to mount this kind of assault on the Capitol, you're going to need every available weapon…" He paused for a moment as he reached out to lift his old shield from its position on the wall before turning back to face us. "And every available soldier."

"You're coming with us?" Clint said, looking at Steve in surprise. "No offence, Cap, but you're-"

"Old?" Steve said, smiling over at my fellow archer. "True, but there are a few things you haven't taken into account because you don't know them."

"Such as?" Clint asked.

"For one thing, the serum ensures that I remain in top physical condition regardless of how old I am," Steve explained. "I might be slower than I was, but what's 'slow' for me is fairly quick by most peoples' standards."

"The mechanical limbs help, huh?" Tony asked.

"On the relevant sides of the body, anyway," Steve confirmed before focusing his attention back on Clint. "And for another thing, I'm not going to wield the shield; you are."

" _Me_?" Clint said, staring at Steve in shock even as he took the offered shield from the older man almost on automatic; if we weren't preparing for battle, I would have laughed at the sight of utter bemusement on his face. "But I-"

"You used it in the past… well, the future from your perspective, but the fact is that you used it," Steve explained, moving over to help Clint hook the shield over his arm before taking hold of the arm to elaborate on his explanation. "You told me that you made it work by thinking of it as a giant boomerang that could double as a weapon; make the necessary mental adjustments to compensate for it coming back at you with sufficient force, and you'll be fine."

"OK…" Clint said, looking apprehensively between the shield and its original owner even as he appeared to be committed to obeying the other man's instructions.

"As for me…" Steve said, smiling as he looked over at the rest of the team. "Well, I have another weapon in mind."

I was about to ask what he meant by that statement when he walked up to the pedestal topped by the glass case that held Thor's hammer. Placing his artificial hand against a panel on the pedestal, he waited for a moment before the glass case around the hammer had retracted into its base, leaving the hammer exposed and free for him to pick up in his left hand with a casual smile.

"Thor's hammer?" Natasha said, staring at the old man in shock. "But-"

"It can be wielded by one who is worthy, Natasha," Steve said, smiling over at her as he made a few practise swings with the weapon before sliding his wrist through the strap at the end. "I don't have full access to Thor's powers, of course- I can't summon lightning or fly, as an example- but it greatly enhances my strength and I can still summon it back to me so long as I concentrate."

"You can summon it?" I said, looking at the hammer in surprise. "As in… you just _will_ it back to you?"

"One of its minor feats, but still an impressive bit of work, really," Steve said, smiling as he studied the hammer. "It's only effective so long as I catch it in my remaining original arm, of course- it doesn't seem to respond to the artificial one; probably because it isn't actually _me_ holding it- but that's easy enough to remember; I tend to punch automatically with this arm after so long using the shield anyway."

"Uh… what are you guys talking about?" Finnick asked, looking at the hammer in Steve's hand in confusion. "I mean, it's a nice weapon, but… it's a _hammer_ …"

"All I can say for now is that this is _much_ more than a regular hammer; we'll tell you the rest when this is over," Steve said, shooting a reassuring smile at the District Four Victor as he hung the hammer by his side. "Right now, we have to chat with the president."


	17. Riding to Battle

" _What_ is going on here?" President Coin said, glaring at the assembled Avengers as we all strode into her office, dressed for combat and armed to the teeth with our respective weapons (I was in my Mockingjay outfit once again, and Johanna and Finnick were wearing dark uniforms that Steve and Natasha had apparently put together earlier; the outfits were predominately black, with Finnick's tinted blue and Johanna's green to represent their respective districts, but overall the look worked).

"What does it look like?" Tony countered, smiling teasingly at her, his helmet under his arm and his dark armour gleaming in the lights of her office. "We're preparing to get our friend back."

"You are _not_ -" Coin began.

"They are, actually," Steve said, walking over to stand in front of the rest of us as he returned Coin's glare with his own, although his was doubtless supported by the rest of us as opposed to Coin being on her own. "I have done my best to respect your authority, President Coin, but with all due respect, the Avengers are not your soldiers-"

"They're here to fight for the District-!" Coin began.

"We're _here_ because your guys wouldn't have a whelk's chance in a supernova of stopping Snow if he goes all big and green on you; the fact that we're setting you all free to set up a new government is pretty much a secondary issue," Tony interjected, glaring resolutely at Coin. "Just in case you're crazy paranoid a la Cornelius Fudge, I'll spell it out right now; we're not here to help Steve mount some kind of screwy coup against you or anything like that, but we're not going to be your own little hit-squad. Once we stop Snow and anyone who gets between us and him, that's it; we'll be out of your hair as soon as possible."

"Mr Stark," Coin said, returning the inventor's glare with one of her own, leaving me suddenly concerned that my new teammate might be pushing things too far, "I feel that you don't understand just how much I have to call on-"

"Seriously, stop that; you're just wasting everyone's time," Tony interrupted, smiling slightly as he looked at Coin. "No offence, but our main backer back home can hit us with a more intimidating stare than that, and he's only got one eye to deliver it with; you're good, but you just don't compare."

"If you're going to get anywhere with this war, you need to stop worrying about what people _might_ do after it's over and start focusing on what we _will_ do now," Clint put in. "We came here to stop Snow and that's that; we're not interested in doing anything else."

"And before you say _anything_ about them 'taking' Victors for their own ends," I interjected, looking coldly at Coin- what I was about to say might be dangerous, but I wanted to make my thoughts clear- "just ask yourself if you want us to be soldiers or property, and remember that we've all had quite enough of being _property_ thanks to the Capitol using us for years."

I knew that I wasn't exactly speaking for myself when I discussed the Capitol's 'Victor victims'- aside from insisting I maintain my relationship with Peeta and forcing me into the Quarter Quell, Snow hadn't really done much to me- but after spending time talking with some of the rescued Victors, I could almost understand why some of them were so messed up after their Games; drugs or drinking were the only way they could find to maintain some control of their lives after everything he tried to make them do.

"Tell me, Madame President," Steve asked, giving me a brief approving nod for my statement before he looked back at the woman before him, "are you really going to object to having an elite strike team go charging into the Capitol, taking out a fair number of Peacekeepers _and_ eliminating President Snow at the same time?"

"Snow has to answer for his crimes in court-"

"You're never going to _take_ this guy to court; he'll just Maestro out and trash the place the first chance he gets," Tony interjected, looking at Coin as though she just wasn't getting the message.

"Madame President," Steve continued, shooting a brief warning glare at Tony before he focused his attention on Coin, "I get that you want to set a precedent for how to treat your ex-presidents, but trust me when I say that you _can't_ put Snow on trial without putting everything you're trying to accomplish at risk; all you can do is stand back and let us take him out."

For a moment, as Coin and Steve glared at each other, I was suddenly struck by the concern that they were about to actually come to blows over this issue, and was surprised to find myself already shifting into a combat stance- my lessons with Clint had been brief, but they'd made an impact- before Coin sighed and nodded.

"Fine," she said, looking at Steve with grim resignation. "But just so you know, I won't be sending you any additional support. If you have faith in these… Avengers of yours against what you've told me Snow can become, then you can handle yourselves against the Capitol on your own."

"Ma'am," Steve said, nodding politely back at her before he turned to leave the office, the rest of us just behind him. I took a moment to enjoy the surprised expression on Coin's face- clearly she'd been hoping that Steve wouldn't call what she probably assumed was a bluff- before I turned to join the others-

"Soldier Everdeen," Coin said sharply, prompting to turn and look at her as she stared critically at me, "do you really think that Soldier Rogers will-?"

"His _name_ is Captain America," I retorted, returning President Coin's stare with a glare of my own; I might have been naturally sceptical of authority after what Snow had done to me, but unlike Coin or Snow, Steve had never tried to make me do anything and had made it repeatedly clear that he respected my right to choose. "I trust him to help us win the war and then leave me alone to live my life the way I want to; give me the same respect once this is over, and we won't have a problem."

Even with my limited political experience, I knew that what I'd just said was a simplistic view of the situation, but it reflected what I wanted most once this was over; the chance to just make my own decisions and who I was and what I wanted to do with my life, without having to worry about how everyone else would perceive my actions.

I just wasn't going to acknowledge the part of my mind that was thinking about the possibility of making my new role as an Avenger something more long-term than a means of toppling the Capitol; I'd never been a team player before, but I was really enjoying being part of _this_ team… the team that had made me feel whole in a way I hadn't felt since I lost Rue even after killing Marvel… the team that showed me I could make a positive impact in this war… the team that made me feel like I _belonged_ again…

Whatever the outcome of this mission, I would be fighting as an Avenger rather than a Tribute or a Victor; the final goal of victory might be the same, but as an Avenger, not only would I not have to kill my allies to ensure my own survival, but I was finally fighting for something _more_ …

* * *

As we flew towards the Capitol in the hovercraft that seemed to have become the Avengers' official means of transport, after Finnick and Johanna had been given a quick briefing on the essentials of where the other Avengers came from and what we were up against, I was suddenly struck by the implausibility of what we were about to do.  
  
The Capitol was a vast area, larger than anything I'd seen in my life, so vast that even Natasha had been impressed at its size even when she came from a time where we could build cities far larger than the twelve districts, and we were about to mount a direct assault on the heart of the city, with nothing more behind us than a man in a patchwork suit of armour composed of whatever he'd managed to cobble together in the last couple of days, two assassins, an old man with artificial limbs wielding a supposedly magic hammer, and three Victors who'd never worked together and were chosen mainly because we were the best of a bad bunch, to say nothing of the fact that our strongest asset was not only in prison, but was a younger version of the man we were trying to kill.  
  
I might have faith in Steve's abilities as a leader, considering the faith that the other Avengers had displayed in him so far and the lengths he'd gone to when bringing us together, but even if we could rescue Bruce, if Snow transformed was as powerful as he'd seemed to be, the odds weren't exactly in our favour…  
  
As soon as that thought had crossed my mind, I was almost ashamed that I'd ever thought that way; the odds hadn't been in my favour since the moment I volunteered to save Prim's life, but I'd turned the tables then and I'd been virtually on my own once the Games actually started.  
  
I was an Avenger now; if there was any way to stop Snow, we'd find it.  
  
"So this is it, huh?" Tony said, looking over at Steve as he finished taking a last check of his suit. "Just blast our way in and finish this?"  
  
"Get in, get Bruce, and then get ready for Snow," Steve confirmed. "Even if he hasn't won Bruce over yet, he's going to be keeping an eye on him; we won't have long to ."  
  
"And what makes you so sure that Snow Junior hasn't gone to the dark side already?" Johanna asked, looking critically at Steve; she and Finnick had been briefed on the finer details of Snow and Bruce's connection shortly after take-off, but Johanna still seemed reluctant to accept what we were proposing to do. "We're talking about-"  
  
"Can you honestly say that the person you were before the Hunger Games would completely understand and approve of everything you've done and lost since then?" Steve asked, turning around in his chair to look firmly at Johanna. "Bruce and Snow might have been the same person once, but they're so far apart now that Snow can never understand why Bruce would view him as a monster; once Bruce has seen what he could become, he will dedicate himself to ensuring that he will never fall that far."  
  
To her credit, Johanna seemed to realise that arguing with Steve about that wasn't going to get her anywhere; she simply nodded in response to his statement and then sat in silence.  
  
"We can find Bruce easily enough, but what if he's still injured?" Natasha asked, looking curiously at Steve. "You said yourself that it would take a while for Bruce to heal…"  
  
In response, Steve reached into his pocket and pulled out a small injector, showing it to Natasha with a brief smile.  
  
"The most powerful adrenaline booster I could find," he explained, as he put it back in his pocket. "I wouldn't use it normally- I might be this way because of a serum, but I'm not in favour of drugs as a means of enhancing performance- but if Bruce hasn't fully recovered on his own, this injector will give him the adrenaline surge he needs to trigger his transformation and complete the healing process."  
  
"You're giving the Hulk a shot?" Clint asked in surprise, looking up from where he was testing the weight of Steve's old shield. "Isn't that a bit risky?"  
  
"We had to try it once or twice between your time and mine," Steve explained. "It's a risk, I know, but what I've got is part of a batch we developed for this kind of situation before everything… went wrong; the Hulk won't be carrying out complex equations, but he'll be able to speak and cooperate with more elaborate plans than 'Smash Stuff'."  
  
"Sounds good," Clint said, glancing over at me. "You're clear on how to ensure which arrow's which, right?"  
  
"Don't worry," I said, patting the modified quiver on my back that Beetee had developed with Clint's advice. "Beetee and I have gone over everything; I'm not going to pull the wrong arrow by accident."  
  
"Seriously?" Johanna said, looking sceptically at me. "We're up against some kind of superhumanly psychotic bastard who you're saying's been in charge of this country for decades, and the best you have to offer is a bunch of modified weapons-"  
  
"And the semi-magic hammer," Tony noted, indicating the hammer currently hanging by Steve's side.  
  
"The point is, we're sticking with what works for all of us," Clint said. "We held off an alien invasion back in our time with just the six of us and our regular weapons; considering what we're up against now, I think the odds are still in our favour."  
  
"And for the record, we haven't exactly advanced much since the Avengers' era, Johanna," Steve said, looking firmly at the angry District Seven Victor. "The Capitol can unleash mutts and holograms that none of the Avengers have ever encountered, but they can't hit us with a single weapon that my friends here aren't familiar with already."  
  
"And most of those are pretty pathetic compared to what we're packing here," Tony added, indicating his armour and the shield on Clint's arm before he looked awkwardly at the hammer. "I mean, OK, the hammer's probably not going to be as effective without Point Break to unleash hammertime on the other guys, and we're going up against an evil Hulk with a bunch of New Avengers rather than the originals, but you can only work with what you've got; it's not like we're dealing with those Chitauri suckers all over again, and we can _definitely_ handle guns easily enough."  
  
"Just remember to play to your strengths," Steve said grimly as he looked over at Tony. "The Peacekeepers might not be able to actually hurt you or Bruce, but they could still be a problem in terms of sheer weight of numbers; the rest of the team can all handle the Peacekeepers, but it'll be up to you, me, and Bruce to take point against the Maestro."  
  
"The hammer makes _that_ much difference?" Johanna asked, looking sceptically at the small object by Steve's side.  
  
"That hammer makes a _lot_ of difference," Clint said firmly. "I saw Thor once take out something the size of a Capitol tower armed only with that hammer; even if Steve can't use some of its more… interesting abilities, it's still a useful weapon to have on our side."  
  
"Exactly," Tony confirmed. "Hell, I once fought with Thor when he was armed with only that hammer, and the only reason I was still standing afterwards was because of a couple of design flukes that neither of us were expecting… and Capsicle here showing up to calm us down."  
  
"You fought?" I said, looking at Tony in surprise. "I thought Thor was your friend?"  
  
"We were still learning how to even work together; this kind of team isn't exactly a perfect mesh," Tony pointed out, a self-deprecating edge to his usual smirk, as though he regretted his actions in hindsight. "We got past it afterwards; that's what matters."  
  
"Talking of what matters, how close can we actually get with this thing?" Johanna asked, indicating the ship around us as we continued towards the Capitol. "Snow's got to be waiting for us…"  
  
"But he won't be expecting us to go straight for Bruce," Steve pointed out. "Going for Bruce means we'd be going up against Snow, and Snow can't process the idea that we might still have faith in Bruce after he's spent this long in Snow's company; the man's reached a point where he can't trust anyone but himself to do what he wants."  
  
"You have that kind of faith in the guy who's destined to become Snow?" Johanna asked, sounding curious rather than the usual hostile tone I was used to hearing from her.  
  
"I have faith in who Snow was before he allowed pain and suffering to consume him," Steve clarified. "It's complicated, but you have to trust us; Bruce will be fighting with us."  
  
Even Johanna couldn't argue with the kind of simple faith that Steve was showing for his old friend; something about Steve made even the most cynical person want to have faith in him…  
  
"Well, if we're about to wage war against the Capitol, I'd just like to know one thing," Finnick said, looking over at Tony. "Who the hell is that Cornelius Fudge guy you mentioned earlier?"  
  
"You really don't know?" Tony said, looking at the District Four Victor in surprise before glancing over at Steve. "Did _nothing_ survive from back then?"  
  
"The Capitol has a collection of some of the more prominent examples of pre-Panem literature in a few libraries, but the Districts don't have access to most of them," Steve explained. "Snow permits the books to exist because he figures that most of the Capitol don't pay enough attention to anything he's doing to realise he's playing them; they're all safe and happy, with the money and resources to do whatever the hell they want whenever they want to do it, and that's that."  
  
"Ah," Tony said, nodding thoughtfully. "That's either arrogant stupidity or a brilliant grasp of reverse psychology, and I get that isn't the most accurate term here, but I trust my point stands?"  
  
"Quite," Steve said, nodding briefly at Tony before he looked at Finnick. "To answer your question, Finnick, Cornelius Fudge was a character in a popular novel series back when the Avengers were active; in the context of the narrative, he was the leader of a country that was facing imminent war when an old enemy basically returned from the dead, but he'd grown so used to peace that he convinced himself that the series protagonists were faking a crisis to stage a coup when they tried to warn him about the villain's resurrection until it was almost too late."  
  
"Ah," Finnick said, nodding in understanding.  
  
"Sounds… interesting," I said, stuck for anything else to say to that information; I'd never really managed to find the time to read much myself, and District Twelve didn't have many good books anyway…  
  
"We're coming in," Natasha called back to us from the pilot's seat, distracting me from my ruminations as we turned to face the window as the Capitol appeared in front of us, filling the forward window as our hovercraft drew ever closer to its destination.  
  
This was it.  
  
The Avengers were about to wage war against the Capitol itself.  
  
As I tightened my grip on my bow, I felt a rush of exhilaration like nothing I'd felt before; the thought that I was actually about to make a difference, as part of a team…  
  
I'd never felt anything like this before, but I suddenly felt so certain we were going to win it was hard to believe I'd ever imagined otherwise.


	18. Avengers in the Capitol

As our hovercraft reached the outskirts of the Capitol, I was briefly prepared to be met with a barrage of gunfire- we'd escaped relatively unscratched on our first attack, but the Capitol should have upgraded their defences since then- only to be surprised when I realised that there was no sign of any additional armaments around the city.

I knew that it wouldn't be easy for even the Capitol to build new buildings that quickly, but I still would have expected additional hovercraft patrols or something like that…

"It's all part and parcel of Snow's arrogance," Steve explained, when I voiced my uncertainty. "He'd know that I wouldn't have brought Thor to this time for the same reasons I told you, so he'd assume we wouldn't bother launching this kind of attack while Bruce is still his prisoner."

"Normally I'd say that I'm trying not to be insulted, but I wouldn't really be much use in this round anyway," Tony put in, his helmet off as he studied the information on a nearby screen. "I mean, there's only so much I can do against Bruce's raw power at the best of times; what do I do when dealing with someone that can _think_ …?"

"Get through the muscle and provoke him," Steve clarified, smiling slightly over at Tony. "Snow might still be smart as the Maestro, but that doesn't mean he's perfect by any means; he's spent so long in power that he's not going to be used to facing this kind of large-scale defiance."

"Large-scale?" Johanna repeated sceptically. "We're seven people with weird weapons-"

"We're Avengers," Natasha interrupted, sliding her next rounds into her guns as she looked over at Johanna. "Even if we don't have… Doctor Banner… yet, that makes all the difference on its own."

"You have a lot of faith in yourselves, don't you?" Finnick noted, looking at the three time-displaced Avengers with a slight smile. "Even after what the old guy here's told us about your future?"

"We fell when we were apart," Clint said firmly, as he adjusted his quiver on his back. "That's not going to happen now."

"You can't guarantee that-" Johanna began.

"But they _can_ guarantee that they're going to help us fight against Snow and they're not going to stop until he's dead or they are," I interjected, looking over at the older female Victor in firm resolution. "I get why you're angry, but you're just lashing out at everything right now; if you want anything to change here in Panem, you need to trust us."

"Heard that all the time back in Thirteen," Johanna said, looking grimly at me. "What makes you think these guys are any different?"

"Because they want us with them," I replied; I hadn't even realised that I'd considered some of these issues before I started this conversation, but as seemed to be the case ever since I met Steve, learning about the Avengers had encouraged me to re-evaluate a lot of things about my life. "District Thirteen's leaders would have sent us out to do what they wanted while they sat back in the bunker and waited for the fallout; the Avengers are out here, risking their lives for a world that technically isn't even theirs, because they _want_ to help _us_ , not just because they want us to do things their way."

Johanna didn't respond to that statement directly, but the slight smile on her face as she looked contemplatively at the other Avengers was enough to satisfy me for the moment; she didn't have to accept them completely so long as she accepted that they were here to help.

"We've got incoming!" Finnick yelled anxiously, as six new hovercraft moved out from behind the palace to approach our ship; the Capitol might have lost a fair portion of its defence force in our last visit, but they evidently weren't completely defenceless.

"Clint, Katniss-" Steve began.

"On it!" my fellow archer and I said simultaneously, each of us heading for one of the side hatches. As Natasha opened them, we each armed ourselves with explosive arrows, the hovercraft's guns blazing into action as our ship was pushed to its upper speed.

As we shot through the Capitol hovercraft, the enemy ships had to move aside or risk colliding with us, allowing Clint and I to launch our arrows at the ships nearest us. The hovercraft's guns hadn't had time to do more than scar the opposing ships- the Capitol's weapons weren't designed to go up against anything stronger than people- but our arrows triggered such a powerful explosion that the nearest hovercraft were thrown into the ships nearest them, the explosion of those ships destroying the last two before they could move to safety.

"Nice!" Finnick said, nodding at us in approval as Clint and I returned to our seats.

"It's what we do," Clint said, shrugging as he picked up Steve's old shield and adjusted it against his arm, looking over at me as I drew a new arrow.

"First wave down, and we're coming up to the presidential palace now," Steve said, indicating the large white tower up ahead of us, before turning to look at Tony. "If you'd be so kind?"

"Plan of attack?" Tony asked, as he picked up his helmet and put it back on.

"The plan is simple; attack," Steve replied firmly.

Nodding in confirmation, Tony closed the helmet before walking up to the hovercraft's rear hatch as Natasha opened it. Quick as a flash, Tony stepped out of the hovercraft and then Iron Man was charging ahead of the ship, arms outstretched as he fired repulsor blasts at the palace wall up ahead of us. The stonework only took a few blasts before it began to crack under Iron Man's attack, and it only took a few more for it to shatter completely, Iron Man spreading his arms to widen the crack as our hovercraft drew closer, allowing Natasha to ram the front part of the ship into the palace.

"OK then," Tony said, sounding like he was smiling at us as the suit came to rest in front of the ship. "Presidential palace, upper levels, home of psychopathic dictators with anger management issues and the most brilliant guy I know after myself; everyone out."

I noticed Johanna roll her eyes as she joined us in filing out of the hovercraft from the two doors on either side of the front, but I decided not to confront her about it; we had enough problems without me arguing with her over not showing respect to the team.

"Right," Steve said, tightening his grip on the hammer as he looked between the rest of our makeshift Avengers. "We're a couple of floors down from Snow's private guest rooms, and we're pretty sure that's where he's keeping Bruce; there shouldn't be many Peacekeepers up here, but whatever is here, we can handle."

"Get to Bruce and hit him with that needle, huh?" Tony asked.

"Precisely," Steve said, nodding at Tony before looking over at Clint and me. "You two take point; the shield can deal with anything thrown at it, and you're both our best at long-range attacks."

"Right," I said, Clint nodding in agreement as the two of us began to run down the corridor towards the nearest set of stairs, the rest of the Avengers close behind us. Glancing back, I noted that Tony was keeping up the rear, but on reflection that decision made sense; of everyone on the team, he was the best equipped to cope with an attack from behind.

As we reached the next floor, we encountered a couple of Peacekeepers, but I barely had time to draw my bow before Clint had thrown the shield at them, the disc striking both of our would-be opponents in the head before flying back towards us. Clint briefly winced as he caught the shield- I guessed that he hadn't had time to prepare for the force it would strike him with; something that could knock people out that easily probably had a lot of force behind it- but I didn't have time to check if he was OK before we were running back up the stairs to the next level.

"Left at the top; the guest room should be that way!" Steve called up after us, managing to keep up the pace with the rest of us despite being years older than anyone else in the team. As we emerged in the upper corridor, we were faced by a small team of eight heavily-armed Peacekeepers, but Clint managed to daze most of them with his shield while I launched two arrows to strike those he missed in the neck before they could properly respond. Finnick and Johanna leapt into action ahead of the rest of us, Johanna's axes hacking into the armour's joints as Finnick's trident penetrated the Peacekeepers' armoured chests.

It was almost disturbing how much easier this was compared to how it had been in the Games, but the difference was clear; unlike the Games, where I was fighting people in the same position as I was, here I was facing trained and loyal Capitol soldiers who were here to keep my new teammate confined so that President Snow could try and corrupt him to repeat the twisted nightmare that Snow had unleashed on the world.

My fellow Tributes had only died because it was me or them; I was killing these people because there would be no hope of freedom for the rest of Panem if the Avengers fell now.

As the last guard fell, Steve slammed the hammer into the door between us and Bruce, the door flying into the room in pieces. For a moment I panicked at the thought of one of those pieces striking Bruce, but that fear proved groundless as we entered the room (As decadently luxuriant as everything about the Capitol seemed to be) and saw Bruce emerge from a corner of the room in a hoverchair, looking at us with a slightly amused smile.

"Dramatic entrance," he said briefly.

"We like to make an impression," Finnick said, nodding politely at Bruce. "So you're the secret weapon?"

"Working on it," Bruce said, glancing over at Steve. "I've got movement in my arms now- I just keep using the chair because it's more comfortable- but I'm not quite at my peak yet…"

"Which is where this comes in," Steve said, pulling out the injector he'd shown us earlier. "Large dose of adrenaline, using a compound specifically developed by you before… everything happened; it's set up to trigger your transformation and accelerate healing while leaving you with a degree of your old intellect and control over what you're doing."

"A _degree_ of control?" Clint asked.

"He won't be as smart as he is now, but he'll know enough to talk and make some kind of plan-" Steve began.

"Hey, old guy, Mockingjay!" Johanna suddenly called out to us, the District Seven Victor looking anxiously back at Steve and I. "We've got a _large_ number of Peacekeepers gathering out there; don't know how Snow got them here so quickly, but-"

"He knew we were coming," Steve clarified.

"He _knew_?" Finnick repeated, looking at Steve in surprise. "How-?"

"You're dealing with the older me, remember?" Bruce said, looking pointedly at District Four's most famous Victor (I was surprised that he was being so casual about it, but in this kind of situation it was probably only practical; Bruce had probably concluded that if we'd trusted Johanna and Finnick to come along, we must have also trusted them with the truth about him). "I knew you wouldn't leave me behind, so he'd know it as well."

"So… we're playing into his trap?" Johanna asked. "How does that help us?"

"Because whatever else he tries to throw at us, he can't cope with _this_ ," Steve said, brandishing the injector with a smile as he looked back at Bruce. "Shall we?"

"If it helps me get back to fighting shape, I'm all for it," Bruce confirmed with a grim nod. "Let's go."

As Steve placed the injector up against Bruce's neck and triggered it, the effect was almost instantaneous. Even as the Hulk emerged from Bruce, the powerful figure was charging out of the now-shattered chair and towards the window that Johanna had been looking out of earlier, Natasha barely managing to drag the older Victor out of the danger zone before the Hulk had crashed through the window. As the rest of us hurried to watch what was happening outside, the Peacekeepers began to fire at the descending giant, only for their bullets to prove woefully inadequate against the raw power of the Hulk as he practically charged through their forces like he was ploughing a field.

"How do we-?" I began, before Clint pulled out an arrow with a distinctive tip.

"Grappling-hook arrow," Clint explained, indicating my quiver as I found the same type of arrow in my back. "You and I can use these to get down and Johanna and Finnick can follow us; Stark will take the others."

" _Sounds good to me_ ," Tony said, holding out his arms to take hold of Natasha and Steve before he launched himself into the air, the three original Avengers heading for the ground. Not giving Finnick or Johanna a chance to protest, Clint and I fired our arrows at the ceiling before grabbing the other Victors and jumping towards the ground, Finnick firing a few quick energy blasts from the tip of his trident as he held on to Clint while Johanna kept a tight grip on her axes and my neck until we reached the ground.

As soon as her feet hit a solid surface, Johanna was charging towards her enemies, axes moving so rapidly I could barely see her move from one opponent to the other, digging into Peacekeeper armour and shattering it almost effortlessly. Finnick alternated between close-quarter combat with his trident and lashing out with his energy blasts at more distant opponents, while Clint and I soon found ourselves back-to-back, launching arrows at approaching Peacekeepers and lashing out with powerful kicks and punches when they came too close. Natasha alternated between using her own guns and stolen Peacekeeper weapons against our opponents, taking weapons from fallen foes before their comrades had even registered they had fallen, while Tony and Steve charged into the fray, Iron Man's repulsors and Steve's powerful hammer sending multiple adversaries flying with every blast.

With the Hulk shielding us from any of the heavier artillery that the Peacekeepers had brought along, and all of us acting to eliminate the regulars, the army was defeated with almost embarrassing ease, Clint and I hurrying to reclaim our arrows from our immediate opponents after the worst of the fighting had gone by while the three 'powerhouses' took care of any stragglers.

"Whoa…" Finnick said, taking in the fallen Peacekeepers lying around us as I gave my arrows a quick clean before putting them back in my quiver. "That was… was…"

"Unexpected?" Natasha finished for him, smiling briefly over at the older Victor. "That's the way it is in this kind of battle; you act so quickly that you don't even realise you've won until it's over."

"At least we can both agree that _this_ wasn't like Budapest," Clint noted, glancing over at Natasha with a slight smile.

"Oh _yeah_!" Johanna said, raising her axes to the sky as she let out a victorious whoop; I tried not to pay too much attention to the disturbing sight of her axe-blades dripping with blood. "Now _that's_ what I'm talking about!"

"Taking on large numbers with basic weapons and unknown chances of victory is your idea of a good time?" Tony asked as he came in to land beside us, Steve and the Hulk soon joining us. "You're an Avenger all right."

"Hey, I lost my _family_ because of these assholes!" Johanna said, her smile suddenly marred by a glare in her eyes. "If I can unleash the hurt, why _shouldn't_ I enjoy it?"

"So glad that you're enjoying yourself, Miss Mason," a familiar voice said from behind us, clearly audible despite its low tone and our own jubilant mood. "It makes it so much more satisfying to eliminate you now that everyone can see just how twisted you are."

Even knowing who was speaking, my blood ran cold as I turned to take in the sight in front of us; President Snow, standing nonchalantly at the doors of the presidential palace, looking at us with a grim smirk under his beard, dressed in a dark blue waistcoat and trousers with silver armour around his arms.

Whenever I'd seen Snow before, he was always in his suit; if he was out of it, I had little doubt that we were about to find ourselves dealing with the Maestro rather than Snow.

"Ah," he said, looking at the eight of us with an overly satisfied grin. "The Avengers have assembled."

"Quite," Steve said, brandishing the hammer as he glared at Panem's President, holding one a hand to halt the Hulk as the green giant took a single step towards Snow. "I'm going to give you one last chance, Snow; surrender, and you might be granted leniency."

"We all know that won't happen, Steve," Snow said, shaking his head as he looked pityingly at his friend. "The cattle will never appreciate why I have done all this-"

"All you've done for them wasn't for them; it was to feed your own ego," Natasha practically spat as she glared at Snow, guns held tightly despite how fundamentally useless they'd be once our foe transformed. "You're not Bruce any more, _President_ Snow; you're just the thing that was left over when you destroyed everything that made him worthwhile."

"People need leadership, Natasha," Snow said, looking at her with something that was the closest to genuine sorrow I'd ever seen him express. "What will happen when I'm not here-?"

"Well, for one thing, we'll make sure the new guys don't think they have the right to kill people just to make the celebrities do what they want," Johanna interjected, raising her axes as the Hulk growled behind her. "Take away the power and authority and you're just a dick who can't take the fact that people won't always do what you want when you want it, Snow; maybe things won't be perfect when you're gone, but they can't get worse."

"So narrow-minded…" Snow said, shaking his head at Johanna before he flexed his shoulders and turned to address the rest of us. "Well then, since you're all resigned to this foolishness, shall we get on with it?"

"Oh yeah," Finnick said, swinging his trident in a circular motion before he pointed it at Snow, the rest of us aiming our assorted weapons at the President as well. "You're going _down_ , you self-satisfied asshole…"

"Very well," Snow said, as his skin turned green and his body began to grow. "In a way, this is for the best; once I have crushed your team so decisively, all will know that _nothing_ can stand in my way…"

As I watched the Maestro emerge from President Snow, the bulk that I had only seen at a distance previously all the more intimidating now that I was face-to-face with that power, all I could do was tighten my grip on my bow and pray that this would work.

Everything I'd been training for over the last two Games and the last few days with Clint had come down to this…


	19. The Avengers and the Maestro- Round Two

As the Maestro finished emerging from President Snow, the Hulk was unsurprisingly the first to act, charging towards his future self with a loud roar, only for the Maestro to pull out a large grey gun and fire a burst of devastating orange energy at the Hulk. The rest of us could only watch as our large green ally was sent flying backwards into the Presidential palace, the blast fading from his chest to reveal a mass of blood and organs beneath a shattered ribcage; what I was fairly sure were his lungs were still moving beneath his burned bones, and I could almost see the bones repairing themselves, but it was fairly clear that the Hulk wasn't going to get back up any time soon.

"What do you think of this?" the Maestro asked, indicating the weapon with a smile, its 'business end' glowing a deep orange in places and a trigger-guard that actually looked more basic than the rest of the weapon, as though someone had modified the gun after it had been built. "One of the few things I salvaged from SHIELD's arsenal before it was destroyed, reverse-engineered from that 'Destroyer' thing Loki used against Thor in their first appearance on Earth; I understand some sources have come to refer to it as 'Coulson's Revenge', because he was using it when Loki stabbed him?"

I wondered who 'Coulson' was and what he had to do with anything, but a glance at the other Avengers suggested that this wouldn't be a good idea; Natasha, Steve and Clint were all glaring coldly at the Maestro, each clearly ready to rip him apart if it wasn't obvious he could do it to them first, and Tony somehow looked particularly hostile despite the armour completely concealing his face from view.

"I couldn't bear to dispose of such a fine weapon, although I did have to kill everyone who helped me adapt it for this body to limit the risk of anyone else learning about it and using it against me," the Maestro continued, shaking his head in amusement as he aimed the gun at the rest of us. "Now then, while the good doctor takes a moment to consider his priorities while his organs knit themselves back together, would anyone-?"

The speech was interrupted when Tony dived forward and fired a powerful beam from the glowing light in the centre of his armour, aimed directly for the weapon in the Maestro's hands. The Maestro was able to turn around and fire the weapon before Tony's attack reached it, but the resulting conflict of energies triggered a small explosion that blew everyone still standing off their feet; I suddenly found myself with the points of Finnick's trident worryingly close to my arm as I lay dazed against the wall, with a quick glance confirming that the rest of the Avengers were in varying other states of near-unconsciousness. Looking up, I noted that Tony at least was still on his feet, but he was standing on the ground rather than hovering like he had been earlier, the Maestro holding a healing but clearly damaged hand as he looked at the armoured Avenger.

"I appreciated that weapon, Tony," the Maestro said solemnly. "I admire the shot, don't get me wrong- I always knew that you were a skilled scientist, but this level of ruthless efficiency is something else- but-"

"No point finishing that sentence; I'm not remotely interested in your approval of anything," Tony said firmly as he walked up to the fallen Maestro. "Now that you're temporarily down for the count, the only thing I want to know is why the hell you even _did_ all this. I mean, I can understand being pissed at the human race because Ross kept coming after you-"

"Ross?" the Maestro snorted, sounding almost amused at the implication. "Ross was a petty idiot whose grand ambitions never went further than making a tougher soldier; what _really_ made me angry was the lack of gratitude."

"Gratitude?" Tony repeated.

"The Avengers put themselves on the line constantly to try and save lives, and all we ever seemed to get in the aftermath was the praise of the public for a few days before officials started criticising us for not stopping it from ever happening in the first place or wanting us to be 'held accountable' for the damage because they knew they couldn't get anything from our _enemies_ ," the Maestro spat contemptuously, his arm healing as I watched even if he seemed to want to talk rather than attack right now. "I spent years hiding away to keep them 'safe' from what I became back then before I realised that they weren't worth the effort; leaving humanity to its own devices was producing more problems than solutions! All anyone expected of us was that we show up and deal with messes that they often caused themselves, and I was restricted to just _smashing_ their problems when I could deliver so much more; if I hadn't done this, someone else would have! At least I give everyone an equal chance to get ahead; some of the alternatives would have killed everyone who didn't fit their perceived ideas about racial superiority! All I ask is that they adhere to the rules; compared to what some could have asked, I'm _far_ superior!"

"…OK," Tony said, sounding as though he'd given up on the argument. "It's official; you're nuts."

The Maestro didn't even seem to realise what was happening before I heard something charge up and a powerful beam burst from Tony's chest, tearing through the Maestro's hand as he lunged towards my armoured ally.

"Whether or not you're the best choice of a bad lot isn't the issue here, _Maestro_ ," Tony said, glaring at the Maestro as he rose upwards once again, the suit apparently over the worst of the earlier damage. "Everyone's suffered, you big green blowhard; the difference between you and Bruce is that Bruce hasn't let it destroy who he is when it matters, and who he _is_ is possibly the best guy I know! Maybe Bruce over there mainly makes a difference when he's big, green, and hitting things, but I'm actually working on giving him a _chance_ to be more than that back home; you just gave up trying to show everyone that you could be better than they believed you were and decided to prove them right in spades."

"I'm hardly a mindless monster, Tony-"

"And what you've become is meant to be _better_ than that?" Steve interjected, hand clenched tightly around the hammer as he stepped forward to glare at the bearded figure; the rest of us had recovered while the two were talking, but a quick glance confirmed that the Hulk was still healing. "You let civilisation be destroyed because you were angry at a few people-!"

"We were locked in a pointless cycle of conflict, Steve," the Maestro countered, turning away from Tony to glare at Steve. "I broke that cycle-"

"By making it impossible for us to progress?" Steve said coldly. "You were a _scientist_ , Bruce; you should be looking _forward_ , not dragging us back to a high-tech version of the Roman Coliseum in the age of reality television!"

"That's always been your problem, Steve," the Maestro said with a smirk. "So caught up in ideas of freedom that you're incapable of seeing that people prefer security over liberty…"

Before Steve could respond to that, the Maestro was charging forward to slam one fist down towards Steve, the old man only just managing to intercept the fist with his strange but powerful hammer. The resulting clang of metal against an impossibly hard fist filled the area for a moment, the Maestro straining to bring the fist down as Steve fought to hold it up, leaving his back exposed. Stuck for anything else I could do, I pulled out a standard arrow and fired it at the Maestro's neck, the arrow digging into his skin at the same time as a second arrow fired by my fellow archer.

"Nice shot," Clint said as he glanced over at me.

"You too," I confirmed, as the Maestro stepped back from Steve, pulling the two arrows out of his neck as he turned around.

"He's going to kill us."

"Wasn't he already going to do that?"

"Quite," the Maestro said, his attention now focused on both of us. "You disappoint me, Miss Everdeen…"

"Because I wouldn't play your game?" I spat back at him. "You wanted me to marry someone I didn't even really know just to prop up your precious regime; I might have left you alone if you'd just left _me_ alone-!"

As the Maestro charged towards me, my thoughts quickly shifted from arguing to survival. Stuck for options- at this close proximity and with the Maestro's speed, I didn't have time to arm and aim an arrow- I pulled out a small dagger that I'd claimed from the armoury and jammed it into the Maestro's wrist as he came in close enough; the weapon couldn't do much damage, given its small size, but Steve had assured me that the metal it was made of was powerful enough to penetrate even the Maestro's skin. With the Maestro briefly off-balance from the pain, I dived to one side while Clint raised the shield, the subsequent blow from what had been Snow throwing Clint away while the shield and his own skills saved his life, the shield taking the force of the impact while also helping him hit the ground with no sign of damage.

Pausing to take stock of his surroundings, the Maestro reached up to pull my dagger out of his wrist, but his attempt to hurl it towards me was intercepted by a well-thrown axe from Johanna, the axe halting the dagger mid-flight at the cost of damaging the device that allowed it to return to her hand afterwards. As her axe's flight was cut short and it fell to the ground, Johanna ran to reclaim her weapon, diving under another punch from the Maestro as she skidded along the ground, only for the Maestro's foot to suddenly slam down on her outstretched arm with a sickening sound of breaking bones and ruptured skin. Johanna screamed in agony as the Maestro stepped back, revealing a mangled mess where her arm had once been, but he was prevented from finishing the job when Finnick fired one of his missiles at the transformed President. The blast couldn't kill him, but it was powerful enough to send him flying backwards, his chest obviously burned and bleeding as he hit the ground.

Taking advantage of his temporary immobilisation, Natasha practically raced forward to mount her own offensive against the Maestro, firing her two pistols at his damaged chest before leaping into the air to land on his shoulders, firing at his face at practically point-blank range, but even from a distance I had sharp enough vision to see that she hadn't made an impression; her bullets had struck his face, but it looked like he'd actually avoided too much damage simply by shutting his eyes and letting the bullets hit his eyelids. As he got back to his feet, he lashed out with a sweeping punch that Natasha leapt over with incredible speed, the original female Avenger landing a short distance away from the now-standing Maestro, both guns aimed at the bearded green-skinned man as he took her in.

"Natasha," the Maestro said, looking almost pityingly at her. "Don't make me do this…"

"Nobody _makes_ you do anything any more, President Snow," Natasha countered coldly. "I thought that was the point of this brave new world of yours?"

For a moment the two stared at each other in silence, the Maestro's expression displaying a sense of sorrow at odds with what I'd seen of him so far, before he came to a decision.

"So be it," he said solemnly, raising one hand to bring it down towards Natasha. With Finnick dragging Johanna to safety and Tony at a bad angle to do anything, I was briefly lost for what I could do to save my teammate before Clint dived between the Maestro and Natasha, bringing up the shield to intercept the punch despite the obvious strain on his arms.

The resulting shockwave sent me flying backwards, along with any of the other Avengers in the immediate vicinity of the attack, but when I regained my focus and looked back up I saw that the Hulk was back in the game, exchanging literally earth-shaking blows with the Maestro; his chest still didn't look like it was back to normal yet, but he was clearly ready to fight. As I watched, the Hulk delivered several blows to the Maestro's face and chest, alternating punches interspaced with a few kicks, but I didn't need even my limited knowledge of hand-to-hand combat to know that this fight wasn't going to go the Hulk's way; for every attack that got through, the Maestro was deflecting at least four, and the Hulk was taking more punches from his foe than he was able to deliver.

With the rest of us unable to fire at the Maestro without risking hitting the Hulk- and with Johanna out of the fight as Finnick dragged her to safety- all that the rest of us could do was watch as the two traded blows so intense I swore I could feel the shockwaves even at our current distance. I thought I saw blood coming from their lips and noses at various points in the fight, but the injuries healed so quickly it was hard to be sure, until the fight took a turn for the worst when the Hulk overshot and staggered past his opponent. As the Maestro grabbed the Hulk's outstretched arm and forced it rapidly backwards, I winced at the resulting snap and the Hulk's accompanying roar, but I was spared from witnessing anything else when Steve hurled his hammer at the Maestro, striking him in the head and sending him flying backwards. As the Maestro hit the ground, the hammer flew back into Steve's outstretched left hand before he leapt into the air and landed on the Maestro's chest, placing the hammer directly above his heart before he leapt backwards, leaving the Maestro pinned down by the weight of the weapon.

"You really can't see it, can you?" Steve said, looking at the Maestro with what could have almost been described as pity, Tony helping to set the Hulk's broken arm as the rest of us aimed our weapons at the bearded figure. "Putting aside what you're doing to… _you_ … you were ready to kill _Natasha_ before Bruce stepped in… and you don't even care."

"If she can't understand-"

"You really think that _any_ version of Natasha could understand what you've done here?" Steve asked, looking incredulously at his former friend. "After everything she told you about her past-"

" _Never_ speak of her," the Maestro said, eyes narrowing as he glared at Steve. "She died because I never had the chance to ensure control-"

"From everything I've heard, I died because of a regrettable accident," Natasha cut in, stepping forward so that the Maestro could see her more easily as Finnick, Clint and I aimed our bows at our enemy. "Don't act as though anyone else is to blame."

"But that's just it, Natasha," the Maestro replied. "The _world_ was to blame… so I ensured that such a world could never rise again."

The most disturbing thing was that I could see that the Maestro genuinely believed what he was saying.

It had been easy to think of Snow as a tyrant holding on to power, but right now, even if I completely disagreed with the Maestro's methods… I could almost sympathise with his _motives_ …

"The Red Room thought that way," Natasha said firmly. "If we ever knew each other, I believe you know my thoughts on them."

The Maestro didn't respond to that statement in words. Instead, as we watched, he seemed to be pushing against the ground with his right arm, straining against the weight on his chest, before the hammer suddenly fell from his chest, overbalanced from its original position despite its supposed weight. As Natasha moved quickly back to safety, Steve reached out one hand to summon the hammer back to him, but as the hammer struck his hand, my eyes widened in horror as the hand shattered as the hammer came into contact with it; he'd grabbed it in his artificial arm, which apparently couldn't grip it properly. As I watched in horror, the arm exploded from the impact and Steve fell to the ground, letting out a roar of agony as Natasha leapt backwards out of harm's way.

"As impulsive and naïve as ever, Steve," the Maestro said, smirking as he looked at our fallen leader. "Two centuries of experience, and you still make mistakes…"

Before he could get any closer, I seized my chance; I had no idea if this was going to work, but everyone else was too far away or had taken too many knocks recently to do any good right now. Charging forward, I dived for Steve's fallen hammer, grabbed the handle, and leapt back to my feet, the hammer brandished in front of me as I stared at my foe.

"One more _step_ ," I said, the hammer the only thing standing between me and the thing that Snow had become, "and this will be flying towards your face."

I wasn't entirely sure how I'd managed to lift this thing, but now that it was in my hands, I knew that I wasn't going to part with this hammer until the Maestro had fallen or I was dead.

"Come now, Miss Everdeen," the Maestro said, looking mockingly at me. "You don't even know how to _use_ that thing-"

"I throw it at things and they break; everything else it can do is just a bonus," I said grimly, fingers tight around the hammer as I pointed it at the monster that had secretly done so much damage to Panem since it was founded; my death was probably the most likely way for this to end, but I wasn't going to let that stop me protecting the leader of the Avengers. "If you want Steve… you'll have to go through _me_."

"Very well," the Maestro said, raising his arms in a move that clearly indicated he was preparing to charge. "If you insist-"

"I SAY THEE NAY!"

I barely had time to wonder where that voice had come from before it seemed as though a sudden thunderstorm had started, filling the air around us before the hammer was yanked out of my grip. Staring after it in shock, I could only watch as the hammer flew away from me to strike the Maestro in the side of the head before it spun back around and came to a halt in the hand of a man I'd never seen before, standing in the shattered door of the presidential palace, dressed in blue-and-silver armour with a long red cloak and long blonde hair that was at odds with his neatly trimmed beard, clutching a long axe in his other hand.

"Maestro," the man proclaimed, pointing at the large green figure with the hammer that had so recently been in my hand. "I would have _words_ with thee."


	20. The Avengers VS the Maestro- Round Three

"THOR?!" Tony, Natasha and Clint yelled out simultaneously at the sight of the new arrival.

"He's back…" Steve said, smiling in satisfaction as he looked at the imposing figure, despite the obvious pain of his shattered arm.

" _You_?" the Maestro yelled, apparently forgetting that I was suddenly defenceless as he took in the man standing before us. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"Finishing what should have been ended long ago," the red-cloaked man holding the hammer said, as he stared grimly at the large green man. "You have fallen too far, Banner; whatever part of you once considered me a friend, I regret what must be done… but that same part of you should understand why I _have_ to do this."

Before the Maestro could say anything else, the man I now knew was the missing sixth Avenger raised the hammer, which was suddenly struck by a bolt of lightning from what had been a cloudless sky mere moments ago. I didn't even have time to ask what was going on before the hammer, now glowing with blue electrical energy, sent a powerful blast towards the Maestro, sending him flying backwards into the presidential palace.

"He will be down for a moment," the man said, looking over at the four time-displaced Avengers with a tentative, warm smile as he studied them. "It is… good to see you again, my friends."

"Good to see you too, Point Break," Tony said, landing beside Thor and raising his faceplate to address the other man. "Team hasn't been the same without you."

"As I understand it, you have not yet fought without me in the time you come from…" Thor began.

"Look, can we just- I mean, this is _Thor_?" I interrupted, looking at the red-cloaked man now holding the hammer; this whole situation might be increasingly beyond me, but I didn't get chosen to be an Avenger because I sat back and let things happen. "You… you're _alive_?"

"I am," Thor said, nodding at me. "Your courage in standing up to the Maestro was most commendable, Katniss Everdeen; he is a formidable foe-"

"Thanks for that, but seriously, how can you be _here_?" I asked, ignoring the awkward stares that the other Avengers were exchanging around us as I looked at the new arrival in exasperation. "I mean, Steve told me that you… well, he said that you'd been beaten half to death the last time he saw you, but that was over two _centuries_ ago-!"

" _Centuries_?" Finnick interjected, looking at Thor in shock; it was probably easier to accept the idea that Steve was that old when he actually looked ancient, even if he was still fairly fit. "You're _that_ old?"

"I am an Asgardian, Finnick Odair; my people do not age as you do," Thor said, looking solemnly at the District Four Victor before looking back at me. "And to answer your question, Katniss Everdeen, I survived that conflict, but after my recovery, I remained in Asgard because… as much as it shames me to admit it, I believed that Midgard had nothing left that was worth defending."

"You gave up on us?" Tony said in surprise.

"The woman I loved was dead and a man I considered a close friend had killed a valued comrade and badly injured two more before going on to conquer most of your world because he was angry at the actions of a few," Thor noted, glancing over at Tony with a pointed stare. "What reason did I have to retain my faith in you?"

"…Good point," Tony said, nodding awkwardly at the other man's statement.

"Tony and I weren't enough?" Steve asked, looking uncertainly at Thor.

"You were two close friends whose actions could be perceived as attempts to survive rather than anything more noble; while I regretted what happened to you, it was not enough," Thor clarified grimly. "I had already lost one battle to the Maestro; I was… reluctant… to endure another beating."

"So why are you here now?" Clint asked.

"While I had abandoned thoughts of remaining as Earth's defender when humanity had proven unworthy, I was not willing to abandon you completely to potential assaults from outside forces when it was the actions of my kin that drew the Chitauri to Earth in the first place," Thor explained. "As a result, I was aware of Captain Rogers' use of the time portal that brought you all here, and instructed Heimdell to keep a close eye on you all to observe your actions… but I will confess, it was only when I learned that Katniss Everdeen had picked up Mjolnir that I decided to intervene once more."

"Me?" I said, surprised at that news. "Why did that-?"

"You recall what the captain told you about how to wield this hammer, 'Mockingjay'?" Thor asked, smiling slightly as he looked over at me.

"That it can only be used by one who…" I began, before my voice trailed off as I realised what he was saying to me. "You mean… you saw that I was worthy…?"

"And if this world can still produce one worthy of wielding this hammer, there is still merit in acting in its defence," Thor explained, smiling at me in confirmation. "You should be proud of what you have accomplished, Katniss Everdeen-"

"Yes, she provoked a war that could destroy what remains of humanity all because she wanted to keep doing her own thing; how _very_ commendable," a familiar voice said, prompting us all to spin around as the Maestro emerged from the palace, his clothing torn but any injuries he'd sustained apparently healed. "In any case, thank you for clarifying why you decided to show up here once again, Thor; I _did_ wonder about that…"

"Which is why you didn't draw our attention to you until he'd finished talking, correct?" Natasha asked, as the rest of us all reached for our weapons.

"As you know in your profession, knowledge is power, my dear Natasha; I wanted to be sure what our old associate was doing here after so long away," the Maestro said, before he focused his attention on Thor. "And as for you, old friend, you should have stayed in your shining kingdom-"

"I have remained there for too long, Maestro," Thor said, glaring at his foe as he tightened his grip on his hammer. "I have witnessed all that you have done to this world since we last fought, and one thing is clear; regardless of who you once were, now you are nothing more than an abomination that must be eliminated."

The Maestro opened his mouth to respond, but was cut short when Thor shoved past us and hurled his hammer forward, keeping a tight hold on the handle as he flew through the air before he collided with the large green man, sending them both flying backwards into the palace.

"Whoa…" Finnick said, staring at the now-enlarged hole in the palace wall as the sounds of combat

"Can he win?" I asked.

"Hard to say," Steve replied, wincing at the obvious pain on the side where his arm had been mere moments ago as he looked at the hole in the wall. "Maestro's stronger than Thor without Mjolnir as part of the equation, but they were always fairly evenly matched when Thor fought him with the hammer for our training sessions back in the day. Snow's had some additional combat experience since then, but there's no way of knowing what Thor can do now, particularly with that axe to add to the equation…"

"Sorry, I think I missed something here; who _is_ that guy?" Finnick asked, indicating the shaking palace. "I mean, he just shows up here talking about how he's an 'Asgardian'- whatever _that_ is- and how he's lived for over two centuries, and you're all-"

"Because he has," Tony said, looking firmly at Finnick. "That man in there is the sixth member of the original Avengers, and he's been kicking ass for at least a thousand years since before anyone here was even _born_."

"Huh?" Finnick said, looking at me in confusion. "He said he was an Asgardian… but… what _is_ that?"

"Thor's…" I began awkwardly, before deciding to just say what Steve had told me when I'd asked about the missing Avenger so long ago. "He's kind of a god."

"A _god_?" Finnick repeated incredulously. "He's a _god_?"

"Well, he's a very powerful guy who was worshipped as a god on Earth many centuries ago; it's close enough to the truth to make no odds-" Tony began, before a loud roar tore through the air as the Maestro crashed through another wall of the palace, Thor charging after him as the large green man hit the ground a short distance away. As though the sight of his future self was the cue he'd been waiting for, the Hulk roared in rage and charged towards the two combatants, leaving the rest of us looking at each other in bemused uncertainty.

"So," Natasha said, breaking the silence at last. "That was unexpected."

"Bruce charging after the Maestro like that?" Tony asked. "I was actually surprised he didn't do that earlier…"

"I was talking about Thor's return, actually," Natasha said.

"That doesn't matter," Steve said, looking anxiously up at the hovercraft where it was still 'parked' in the side of the palace. "Right now, our ride back to safety's in a very vulnerable position and one of us has been taken out of the game already; we need to get Johanna out of here before she takes any more damage and make sure that the Maestro stays focused to limit potential civilian casualties."

"Good point," Tony said, stepping forward as he looked at Johanna. "I'll get Miss Armless and the ship out of harm's way, but in the meantime you all need to make sure psycho-Bruce stays contained in case he starts taking out buildings to try and kill the unarmed woman while we're busy."

"Don't forget-!" Finnick began, before Natasha reached over and slapped him in the back of the head.

"If Captain Rogers was going to leave, he would ask to leave," she firmly informed the only other Victor left conscious. "The fact that he can stand now should be all you need to confirm that he'll be fighting with us."

"Quite," Steve said, reaching over to Clint and accepting the return of his shield as he looked resolutely at Finnick. "I brought the Avengers back together, Finnick; I'll be _damned_ if I'm going to let you go up against the Maestro and not be there."

"You sure about that?" Clint asked, looking uncertainly at Steve even as our leader placed the shield on his damaged arm; the hand had been shattered, but the rest of the arm was still intact enough to carry the shield. "You said yourself-"

"Without the arm weighing me down, I should regain enough speed to compensate for my current reflexes," Steve said, looking firmly back at the archer before he turned to address the rest of us. "Finnick, Clint, Natasha, get some of those hovercycles from the president's private peacekeeper force and get everyone still in the area out of harm's way; Tony, get Johanna and the hovercraft to safety, and then get to the fight; Katniss and I will keep an eye on things and try and keep those two contained."

"Good plan," Tony said, bending down to pick up Johanna before he flipped his mask back into position. "Good luck, guys; hold it together until I get back."

As Tony flew back towards the hovercraft with Johanna, the rest of the Avengers ran off to follow Steve's commands, Steve and I hurrying towards the battle that was now raging inside the Capital while the other three ran for the palace.

"Snow had… private peacekeepers?" I asked, looking over at Steve as we ran; for an old man, he was keeping remarkably good time, almost managing to keep up with me despite my youth.

"Specially trained… with some extra gear," Steve explained, smiling briefly at me. "We already stopped them… didn't have time to get the extras… everything they need is there…"

I was about to ask what kind of things might be in that storeroom, but then I saw a large piece of rubble flying towards us and had to focus on something else, drawing, aiming and firing an explosive arrow with a speed that amazed even me. With the rubble shattered before it could strike us, the two of us continued to run towards the battle, the three fighters soon becoming visible in the distance as the Hulk and Thor fought to keep the Maestro contained in what looked like a small park. Glancing up at the sound of approaching vehicles, I relaxed when I saw small objects that had to be the previously-mentioned hovercycles flying overhead, the other three Avengers just visible as they flew towards the buildings nearest the fight.

The sky was darkening as Steve and I drew ever closer to our destination, but I wouldn't let myself think about that; bad weather was probably a good thing if Thor's reputation as the God of Thunder was accurate. As the ground cracked beneath our feet while we ran through the streets, I tried not to take in the sounds of windows and stone shattering around us; we had enough to worry about with the Maestro without trying to evacuate whole buildings single-handedly. This close to the presidential palace, I had to believe that anyone here was either so loyal to Snow that they deserved what was about to happen to them or had run away after our hovercraft crashed into the palace; I didn't have time to worry about anyone else outside of my teammates…

As we finally reached the site where the Maestro was fighting the other two Avengers, I was briefly amazed at the scale of what I was looking at. In an area that looked like a Capitol park, clouds were gathering above us as Thor lived up to his name while the two green giants traded incredible blows, ground cracking beneath their feet as their punches forced them further into the stonework while the god stood to the side, stepping in to deliver his own assaults whenever the opportunity arose.

The Maestro was having some trouble keeping up with Thor whenever the human-sized figure managed to get in close enough, but it wasn't hard to see that he was delivering far more damage to Thor than Thor was doing to him; the Hulk was scrambling to hold out against the Maestro in a direct assault, and the other Avenger apparently didn't have the time to unleash his more devastating assaults on his opponent. A few times I saw the hammer crackling with energy as Thor unleashed another powerful swing, but even those assaults did little more than send the Maestro staggering slightly; he always caught the follow-up swing before it could make the most of his apparent disorientation. The Hulk was doing what he could to step in when Thor took a particularly hard blow, but the Maestro was always able to intercept and counter the Hulk's attacks before he could get in close enough to do more serious damage, and the Hulk didn't dare to attack when Thor was fighting in case he hit his ally.

The current stalemate was abruptly ended when, as the Hulk prepared to mount his next charge after a kick sent Thor crashing into a wall, the Maestro grabbed a large piece of rubble and hurled it at his younger self, the size of the rock sending the Hulk flying into a corner of the park. Fortunately, Steve and I were too far away for the Maestro to see us as the Hulk came to a halt, but by the same token we were too far away to get in close enough to help Thor against him, even if either of us would have honestly had a chance against the Maestro.

" _Have at thee_!" Thor yelled, leaping into the air to charge down towards the Maestro with both his weapons, only for the Maestro to grab Thor's axe and hurl him away before Thor could realise what his foe had done. As Thor hit the ground, I realised with horror that the Maestro was still holding Thor's axe, adjusting his

"I see your axe lacks the same restrictions as your hammer," the Maestro said, smiling as he raised the stolen weapon while walking towards the downed Thor. "Allow me to-"

His speech was interrupted when Thor raised his head and threw the hammer towards his enemy, the blow striking the Maestro below the ribcage with such force that the Maestro let out a powerful gasp, the air driven from his lungs as the axe flew from his grasp. I saw it start to fall towards the ground behind another large pile of rubble, but none of us had the chance to try and go after the axe before the Hulk was on the Maestro once again, unleashing a rapid series of punches at his future self. The older man was left staggering backwards from the sheer force of the assault, green-tinted blood staining his thick white beard, before he managed to grab the Hulk's fist and flip him over his head, leaving the Hulk briefly dazed from the impact. As the Maestro leapt into the air to slam his elbow into the Hulk's chest, Thor hurled his hammer once again, deflecting the Maestro's aim and sending him crashing through another building, which began to collapse as Snow flew out the other side and struck the building opposite.

The buildings collapsed on top of him, but I could already be fairly sure that even that amount of damage wasn't going to be enough to stop the Maestro; after taking punches from a god, I wasn't going to assume that we'd be lucky enough to end this mess that quickly.

" _Nice_!" another voice said, prompting me to glance over as Finnick, Clint, Natasha and Tony came hurrying towards us, Finnick grinning at the pile of rubble behind us. " _That_ should-"

"It won't" Natasha said firmly, Thor walking over to join our assembled group while the Hulk remaining in position to glare at the fallen buildings, evidently waiting for the Maestro to get back up and keep fighting.

"What?" Finnick said, looking at her in shock. "The guy just had a _building_ dropped on him-"

"And the Hulk has survived being hit with every advanced weapon in existence back in our time; a bunch of rocks aren't going to stop the older him for long," Tony said firmly, Steve and Clint's own stares clearly reinforcing Natasha's words.

"Quite," Steve said, sighing grimly as he looked around at the rest of the team. "Thor, your return is greatly appreciated, but we have to face the facts, and this clearly isn't going to work. You and Bruce have the Maestro on the ropes, but he's still too strong for us to just beat him to death; no matter how strong the Hulk can get, the Maestro started out stronger than Bruce and that's going to stay the same no matter how angry Bruce is…"

"Is there _anything_ that we could do to stop him?" I asked. "Thor brought that axe; if we can get it back, couldn't we… cut his head off or something?"

"I would be willing to attempt-" Thor began.

"It wouldn't work; his skin's too strong and he'd never stay still-" Steve began, before his eyes widened as he looked at our quivers, pulling out a distinctive arrow from Clint's bow and showing it to us with a broad grin. "But _this_ might work…"

"An arrow?" Finnick said uncertainly.

"An _explosive_ arrow?" Clint clarified, even if he still looked confused. "The Maestro's taken lightning bolts to the chest and he's still walking around; I don't think an explosive arrow's going to stop him-"

"Not by itself," Steve clarified, looking back at the still-buried Maestro with a grim smile (I tried not to think about the shifting rocks on that pile; the Hulk was there if he got out, and that would _have_ to be enough). "But if it goes off inside his _head_ …"

"The firecracker analogy?" Clint asked.

"The science might have been questionable, but the _principle_ was sound," Steve said, smiling at my fellow archer in a manner that left me certain that I was missing something, before he looked over at me. "It's the same principle as holding a firecracker in your hand; if it goes off when your hand's open, you just get a burned palm, but if it goes off when your hand's closed, you'll lose the hand."

"So… we shoot this _inside_ the Maestro's head… and he's finished?" I asked, looking at the arrow with a new sense of respect now that I had an actual target. "How do we do that?"

"Get his mouth open and shoot this down his throat," Clint said.

"Ah," I said, looking over at the other archer for clarification. "So… you've done that before?"

"Yes," Clint said, looking solemnly at me. "Right now, however, you should take the shot."

"Me?" I repeated, the shock of his statement cutting off what would have been my next question about when he'd needed to do something like that. "But I'm-"

"You're Panem's Avenger, Mockingjay," Steve said, joining the rest of the team as they looked solemnly at me; even the Hulk seemed to be somewhat more serious as he looked back at me right now. "If anyone has earned the right to eliminate the Maestro for his sins, it's you."

I was saved from responding to that statement when a load roar filled the air as the Maestro emerged from the rubble that he had buried in earlier. Before he had the time to realise what was happening around him, the Hulk had unleashed a powerful punch at the Maestro's face, the dazed dictator left staggering backwards as his past self resumed his assault.

"How the hell are we meant to shoot an arrow into that?" Tony asked, watching the fight apprehensively as the two large green men traded blows; the Hulk seemed to have the edge this time, suggesting that the Maestro hadn't fully recovered from being buried alive like that, but I doubted that would last for long. "He's too fast-!"

"I will deal with _that_ ," Thor said, looking resolutely at the combatants before turning to face me. "Just be ready to fire when I give you the opening."

I didn't even have time to respond before Thor leapt into the fray, striking the Maestro in the side with the point on the end of his axe before unleashing another powerful blow with his hammer. Forced on the defensive for the first time since I'd seen him emerge, the Maestro raised his arms to deflect their punches, but a blow from the Hulk struck his left arm with a powerful crack, weakening his defensive stance as Thor swung his hammer in a powerful blow.

With his left arm apparently broken, the Maestro was unable to deflect the next blow, resulting in Thor striking the bearded green man in the jaw with such force that the Maestro's lower jaw was suddenly torn away from his head. His roar cut off as he suddenly lost the ability to pronounce anything, the Maestro glared at the other Avengers in outrage, his tongue flopping uselessly in his mouth before the Hulk suddenly leapt up behind him, grabbing his future self's head between his hands as Thor suddenly hit the ground to grab one of the Maestro's feet.

"SHOOT!" the Hulk roared at me, clearly straining to keep his future self in place as the Maestro reached back, scratching desperately at the Hulk with his arms as he tried to kick Thor away with his still-free foot.

Trying not to consider the consequences if I missed this shot, I pulled back my bowstring, armed the explosive arrow that Clint had given me, and fired at the Maestro, watching with baited breath for a moment as the arrow flew through the air before it struck the Maestro's gaping mouth, burrowing deep inside his head. The Maestro let out a brief yell of agony- his jaw had actually begun to _grow back_ as I made the shot- but that yell was cut short when his head literally exploded as the Hulk and Thor leapt backwards, chunks of brain and skull flying all over the place as we all turned our heads in disgust.

When a few moments of silence had passed, I turned back to observe the results of my last shot, and wasn't sure if I should feel proud or disturbed at the bloody mess that was all that remained of the Maestro's head above his jawline, the body still standing upright as though it hadn't registered that it should have fallen over, greenish blood splattered around its shoulders. As the body fell to the green-stained ground, shrinking back down to a thinner, human-coloured corpse, I sighed in relief as the shattered head saw no sign of repairing itself.

I'd only known about the Maestro's existence for a few days, but I'd known Snow as the ruthless ruler of my country for my entire life; the knowledge that I'd finally managed to end it all…


	21. Avengers Reassembled

After the Maestro fell, the next few days were a virtual blur for me. When we returned to District Thirteen, Coin was waiting for us as the hovercraft came in to land, but Steve, Tony and Thor all insisted that Johanna's treatment be given priority, as well as ensuring that Finnick and I be left alone to recuperate. I had a brief meeting with my family to confirm that I was all right and assure them that Snow had been dealt with, but after that all of us had been taken to various meetings with the ruling council of District Thirteen to explain the situation. Even with the body of the Maestro as evidence, it had taken time for President Coin in particular to be satisfied that we had genuinely killed President Snow, and even then there had been various other issues about our role in the future.

Thor had been introduced to the council as an additional Avenger; Steve had concluded during our return flight that letting everyone else know that we had an actual god in our presence might not be the best way to calm the general population, but so long as he didn't do anything too unusual we could probably claim the hammer was the only special thing about him. While some people had been sceptical of the idea that Snow had been the green creature we were fighting, once footage of the fight was analysed in depth, the beard was distinctive enough to reinforce our story that Snow and the Maestro were the same person, particularly after Bruce demonstrated his own ability to transform into the Hulk (Even if we had to suggest that Bruce and Snow just had the same trait rather than reveal that they were the same _person_ too soon).

When we'd attempted to make contact with the rest of Panem to inform them of the situation, I'd been relieved to learn that civilian casualties in the battle with the Maestro had been relatively limited; at least we could convincingly argue that we weren't killing innocent people to make our points. As I'd hoped, most people living around the Presidential Palace had run away after our hovercraft crashed into the side, and the only other people who'd died in the fighting had been more of Snow's personal peacekeepers when they'd tried to attack us after we'd rescued Bruce. While the Capitol's citizens were still the same strange fad-obsessed culture I would never completely understand, enough people had witnessed the other Avengers trying to save people while the Maestro was tearing his way through buildings with no consideration for who he might kill; even the most devoted 'fan' of Snow couldn't argue that he was a good man after seeing him do that where the Hulk had gone to great effort not to kill people in the fight.

With Snow gone, the remaining leaders in the Capitol had quickly lost heart; Snow had never planned for the possibility that he wouldn't be there, so even though he had people responsible for dealing with the finer issues of running Panem, nobody was in a position to take control of everything and take on his old responsibilities. Individual areas of the Capitol's social and economic structure could still carry on as normal, but without Snow to coordinate them nobody seemed to be able to allocate the resources accordingly,

Of course, having the Hulk and Thor on our side didn't hurt our ability to make a point; when the remaining Capitol military forces had attempted to launch a final assault against District Thirteen, it hadn't taken long for the Avengers' powerhouses to take out the few remaining Peacekeepers still loyal to Snow's vision of Panem, discouraging any thoughts of trying to continue the struggle.

As the initial chaos died down, I almost couldn't believe it when I learned that I had been chosen as the new leader of the Avengers who would be remaining in Panem after the four time-travellers returned to their time. I had tried to protest, arguing that Thor was a member of the original team and Finnick and Johanna had more experience, but Steve had pointed out to me that he had been the youngest member of the original team and had still served as their leader. Johanna and Finnick had both assured me that they were fine letting me take point, and even Thor had expressed no uncertainty about the decision, stating that he was content to follow my lead when dealing with threats to my world so long as I respected his expertise in other matters.

I was still waiting for the moment when everyone would realise that they'd made a mistake as I stood in the broadcast room of District Thirteen, dressed in my Mockingjay outfit once again, more terrified than I'd been even when facing the Maestro.

"You're… sure about this?" I said, looking uncertainly at Steve as he watched me from behind the camera that had been set up in his small Avengers 'museum', the four displaced Avengers behind him. "You and Peeta are the ones who have experience at this…"

"Peeta's better at making people like him than speaking out in favour of a cause, and the main reason I managed to rally support for a cause was that people knew what I stood for," Steve corrected me. "You may not have our experience at doing this kind of thing, Katniss, but you represent the good reasons for this revolution; the Mockingjay who defied the Capitol because she wanted to do the right thing, and made her stand because she didn't want to kill innocent people."

"You can do this, 'jay," Tony said, nodding at me with an approving smile, the other three Avengers giving me their own small smiles as well. "They already love you; just remember what we went over, sum up the situation and you'll do fine."

Nodding in gratitude at the genius industrialist, trying to focus on the faith they were placing in me rather than my fear of making a mistake, I turned around to face the camera, trying not to think about the sheer scale of people who were receiving this message as the production team activated the camera.

My team believed in me to deliver this message, and I believed in them; they couldn't _all_ be wrong, right? I had done the impossible ever since I volunteered to save Prim; this was just something new…

"People of Panem," I said, taking a deep breath as I began to speak. "I am Mockingjay, of the Avengers. You've heard many stories about who we are and what we were doing in the Capitol over the last few days, but I'm here to tell you the truth; we went there to eliminate the monster in the guise of President Snow, a monster that has secretly controlled Panem since the time of the first rebellion for the sole purpose of proving that the human race is flawed and worthless."

I stepped back slightly and indicated the rest of the team gathered around me; Finnick holding his trident in his leather-and-gold attire, Johanna with her new arm holding her new axe, Iron Man standing ready for action, and Thor brandishing his hammer as he looked at the rest of us in approval. I had thought about introducing us as the Panem Avengers when I was first given this task, but Steve had told me not to worry about that; as far as he was concerned, all of us had earned the right to just define ourselves as Avengers,

"These are the team who proved him wrong," I continued (It was a slight lie, but it was hardly as significant as some of the lies the Capitol had told over the years). "We are the Avengers, Earth's mightiest heroes; Snow thought that he had destroyed our ability to come together, but when Panem needed us, we returned to avenge the wrongs that he had committed against everyone."

Some people might argue that the Capitol were just as guilty of Snow's crimes for never taking action themselves, but I wasn't going to touch that argument unless someone made me; after how long it had taken everyone to convince me to stand up to him, I was hardly going to start criticising people for not doing more earlier.

"We are not here to rule you, or dictate what you make of this new world; we are here to inform you that there will be no further Hunger Games, now or ever again," I continued, my tone firm; any thoughts among the surviving Victors of arranging for a final Games featuring the Capitol's children had been cut short when Natasha asked how we could distinguish ourselves from the Capitol if we went that far. "The Districts will be granted full access to all the resources they need, and the Capitol's wealth will be redistributed to the full population rather than hoarded away; I know for a fact that the Capitol has food to spare, so it can afford to lose some of it. All districts will retain full autonomy unless something comes up that requires greater inter-District cooperation, and the Avengers will be active to deal with anything else that arises. We will kill those who threaten the peace, but we will not enforce our authority; we are your protectors, but we will not depose Snow only to replace him. You knew me as Katniss Everdeen, the Girl on Fire, when I fought in the Hunger Games; now, I am Mockingjay, the leader of the Avengers, and I fight alongside the Mariner, Bloodaxe, Iron Man, and Thor. We are assembled, we are prepared, and we are ready to fight those who threaten this world; don't give us a reason to, and all will be well."

With that, the transmission came to an end, the displaced Avengers and Steve applauding my performance as the camera techs left the room with their equipment, all aware that Steve had asked for a few moments alone with the team.

"Nice job," Johanna said, smiling as she adjusted her new limb and weapon. After District Thirteen had provided her with a cybernetic arm to replace the one she'd lost to the Maestro, Thor, in recognition of her role as an Avenger and her skill with the weapon, had offered her the axe he'd been wielding when he arrived on Earth, which he'd identified as Jarnbjorn. Concluding that he didn't need the axe now that he had the hammer back, Thor had handed it on to Johanna as a prize for her efforts in standing up to the Maestro. Johanna had protested at first, appearing unusually humble in the face of the gift, but Thor had insisted that she had earned the weapon for her courage, and in the end the District Seven Victor had accepted the offer. I wasn't entirely comfortable with her choice of codename- 'Bloodaxe' just felt a bit too violent for a team that was meant to protect people- but Steve hadn't voiced any objections, so I had decided to just have faith that nothing bad would happen as a result.

"Yeah," the man in the Iron Man armour said, raising his faceplate to reveal Peeta inside it; he was clearly uncomfortable with the suit, but he had been given a fairly detailed crash course in how to use from Tony before he even put his hands on it. While Tony stood by his earlier statement that Peeta's physical combat skills needed improvement, he felt that Peeta still had potential as an Avenger, and giving him the armour seemed like the best way to compensate for that and ensure that the Avengers remaining here didn't lose too much once the time-travellers were home.

"You sure we can do this?" Finnick asked, the normally confident Victor looking unusually anxious; Steve had been amused by Finnick's choice of codename for some reason, but he had given his approval of the name. "I mean, these guys _did_ do the heavy lifting this time around-"

"Because the Maestro was a special case," Natasha said, looking firmly at the man with the trident. "Steve has confirmed that Snow was the most powerful entity left on this planet after the wars; with Thor available, you should be able to handle anything else that might attack."

"Precisely," Tony said, smiling reassuringly at my new team before he looked curiously at Steve. "So… since we're going home now… any tips for the future?"

"Prepare the Legion," Steve said, looking solemnly back at the jocular industrialist. "You always told me that you thought you could have saved the day if you'd had your own army."

I wondered what Steve meant by that statement, but the grim expression on Tony's face suggested that it meant something to him at least, and I didn't feel like this was the time to ask for that.

"Natasha," Steve said, turning to the only woman in the team of time-travellers, "remember what I told you; don't be afraid of him, and be ready to help me."

"I make no promises on the first," Natasha said.

"Just keep my advice in mind, and be available when I need you," Steve said, smiling at her in understanding. "You can be happy with him, Natasha, but it's your choice in the end."

Natasha said nothing, but there was a contemplative expression on her face that at least showed that she was thinking about what Steve had said, even if she was making no definite promises right now.

"Clint, keep your eyes open and be ready if things turn ugly," Steve continued, looking at my fellow archer before his gaze settled on Bruce. "I think we both know what I have to say to you?"

"I will _never_ be him," Bruce said firmly.

"And I believe you," Steve said, nodding at Bruce before he looked around the room. "This may be the last time I see you all, so I just want you to know; there are only three times in my life that I have ever felt that I was right where I belonged, and you were responsible for two of them."

"The Commandos were the third, huh?" Tony asked.

"Yeah," Steve said, smiling back at the man before he sighed. "Anyway… it's time you were all going home."

With those words, the mood seemed to grow slightly dimmer, as the displaced Avengers shook hands with those of us who had been from this time originally; even Finnick and Johanna seemed to feel the solemnity of the moment despite their limited contact with the others, Johanna actually hugging Natasha before the four time-travellers stepped back as Steve activated the portal.

"See you in the past, Capsicle," Tony said, nodding at the old man.

"See you someday," Steve replied, nodding back at the team.

"It has been an honour to fight beside you all once more," Thor said. "Be well, my friends."

With those last few words, and a final nod between the two returning Avengers and the four displaced ones, the time-travellers turned around and walked through the portal, which turned off as Bruce vanished through it, leaving nothing more than a metal object.

"So… what now?" I asked, turning to look at Steve. "We've made our statement, but Coin's not going to be happy about-"

"After what you've done, I'm confident in saying that you've earned enough popular acclaim that Coin would have to be an idiot to try and _make_ you do anything," Steve said confidently. "The Maestro was the biggest gun anyone had to point at you, and with him dead and Thor back, nobody's going to try anything to stop you after what happened to the last people who tried to attack us."

"On that topic," I said, wanting to address this issue in front of our fellow Avengers before I lost my nerve, "while I appreciate your faith in me, shouldn't you-?"

"I'm not going to be the leader, Katniss," Steve said, shaking his head as he looked at me with a warm smile. "I made an effort here because the Maestro was a special case, but I'm just too old for regular field work now. I'll teach you everything I can, and I'll step in if you really need me for anything… but right now, in this brave new world, Panem will need the Mockingjay more than it needs Captain America."

Before I could respond to that, Steve reached behind his back and pulled out his shield, handing it to me as I realised that it had been repainted gold-and-black as opposed to its original red-and-white colour scheme, the white star in the centre replaced by a golden Mockingjay.

"And," Steve continued, "if you're going to lead the Avengers, you're going to need _this_."

As I took the shield, I was torn between smiling broadly and having a panic attack; after seeing Clint's reaction to the suggestion that he take the shield for a single battle, I knew without needing to be told that Steve was giving me far more than just a new weapon.

The fact that the shield had been repainted only made me more aware of the responsibility that Steve was entrusting to me; he'd spent years defending his country, and now he was giving me one of his last symbols of that old world, decorated to match _my_ world…

"Why?" I asked him at last, stuck for anything better to say.

"Because you earned it," Steve said. "When I carried the shield, I stood for the dream that America had been founded on… but now, with America long gone, it's better that this shield be given a chance to represent a new dream."

The responsibility that Steve had placed on me by giving me this should have been overwhelming, but at the same time, I was touched by his obvious faith in me. He had spent his youth fighting to defend the country that he believed in… and now, when he had the chance to bring something of that country back, he was sacrificing that responsibility so that he could help the new world continue.

Looking over at Peeta, I was relieved to see him smiling in understanding at me before I even had to say anything. I was willing to acknowledge that I cared for Peeta, but with my new responsibilities as Mockingjay, this wasn't a good time to even think about trying for something more than what we were already; by accepting this shield, I had acknowledged that I had the responsibility to think of other things to focus on right now.

"So," Johanna said, looking at me with a teasing smile. "What now, Mockingjay?"

"What else?" I said, smiling as I adjusted my bow and slung the shield onto my back. "It's time to make a start on cleaning up Panem."

"Avengers Assemble!" Finnick yelled, grinning at the rest of us even as we turned to look sceptically at him. "What; it's catchy!"

"Can I vote that he _doesn't_ get to speak in public unless we need to flirt with somebody?" Johanna asked.

"When's that going to be a factor?" Finnick protested.

"The battle-cry has potential, but I feel we should work on its delivery…" Thor noted, as the team fell into conversation around me.

As I took in my strange new team- four recovering Victors, the ruler of another realm, and a man who'd been fighting for longer than I'd been alive, all willing to follow my lead as we set out to reshape our country- I was amazed at how far I'd come from the scared girl who'd only volunteered to save her sister.

I'd never expected this kind of responsibility, but now, as I prepared to lead my team on our first solo mission to clean up the world we lived in, facing the threats that no other force could stop as we set out to reshape our world to be what it been before the horror of the Hunger Games, I couldn't imagine wanting to be anywhere else.


End file.
